Winifred Letts

She saw the Spires of Oxford as she was passing by And through the train carriage window she could see the cold grey sky A World war was raging and a poem was in her head And she thought of the brave young Oxford men some of them soon to be with the dead. She wrote the Spires of Oxford passing through Oxford Town A poem for the brave young Oxford men who dreamt of war renown Who fought in Europe's trenches they were strangers to fear In the treacherous gap of danger with the reaper lurking near. Her name was Winifred Letts an Irish nurse and poet And often at literary gatherings lines from her verses quote But the famous Spires of Oxford not her only claim to fame As many other memorable poems to them have got her name. The poems of Winifred Letts I read them as a school going boy And 'tis so true a thing of beauty is always a thing of joy She was a gifted wordsmith with words she had a way And the beauty in her verses I still can see today. She saw the Spires of Oxford and she was inspired to rhyme And she wrote about those brave young men some years short of their prime Who left the Town of Oxford to fight in Europe far away And some of them did not return where they died their remains lay.