A convoy of ambulances crossed the bridge on their way to Yugoslavia. Greece, after her splendid fight against the Italians, was battered into submission by the Germans; and the British had been turned out of the other end of Europe.
Hess flew to Scotland. Crete fell, and its fall much depressed us. The bombing of London was resumed. On which side? But at least, after a year alone, we had an ally, and one which, whatever her fighting power might prove to be and most were not very hopeful , would give us a respite, which we badly needed.
We read the papers more carefully now, and with some apprehension as the German armies swept on and on. But at least they were going away from Britain. And in the meantime we were tidying up the African map in a businesslike manner. That summer a small peninsula, covered with birch and willow trees, which lay between the Salzach and a small stream at the side of the camp, was open to us, and we could lie there in the shade, watching the birds, keeping a record of the wildflowers as they came.
Here one of my pair of redstarts nested, and I spent many hours watching them. It is difficult to shape a book of short lyrics and sonnets, but this long poem, meditated for many months, might bind it together. For the main themes of my book must be love, and war, and behind these the whole relation of man to this world, which is best concentrated and understood through the experience of love. Some of the poems written this year were for songs, and were set to music by a friend in prison; a few were sung at concerts.
I felt that I had achieved something if we had made a carol for people to sing in a church I knew so well. Also, I was beginning to get my roots set again, even at this distance, in the soil from which they had been torn. By the time we moved from Laufen to Warburg, Westphalia, in October, , we had recovered from the first months of starvation, thanks to parcels from home and from friends in Europe and America. We were adequately clothed and had a large number of books in the camp.
