The Life That I Have

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The Life That I Have (sometimes referred to incorrectly as Yours) is a short poem written by Leo Marks and used as a poem code. In the Second World War, famous poems were used to encrypt messages. This was, however, found to be insecure because enemy cryptographers were able to locate the original from published sources.

Leo Marks countered this by using his own products. The Life That I Have was an original poem composed on Christmas Eve 1943 and was originally written by Marks in memory of his girlfriend Ruth, who had just died in a plane crash in Canada.

On 24th March 1944, the poem was issued by Marks to Violette Szabo, a French agent of Special Operations Executive who was eventually captured, tortured and killed by the Nazis. It was made famous by its inclusion in the 1958 movie about Szabo, called Carve Her Name with Pride.

[edit] Bibliography

Leo Marks (1998). Between Silk and Cyanide. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-255944-7. Marks relates his briefing of Violette Szabo prior to her first mission, and his giving the poem to her in Chapter 65 of this book.
Leo Marks (1999). The Life That I Have, illus. by Elena Gaussen Marks, London: Souvenir. ISBN 0-28-563532-8. A small 34 page book with the text of the poem, illustrated by his wife.