They ate flowers and leaves, boiled glue for soup
Took on a gaunt and haunted look.
The starving children, death all around
That constant shelling pound pound pound.
The women of Leningrad held the city
Would no-one hear their pleas for pity?
Their husbands, and sons, went out to die
The city’s burning lit the sky…
Though every word was closely read
The women’s message simply said-
‘We admire your courage, your will to fight.’
Their finest poets would, thus, reply-
‘Therein, the hope for all must lie.
The love of others makes us whole
And feeds the hunger of the soul…’