The Weeping Angel

 

She passed this way and tended to our pain,

administered our wounds and eased our fears

telling us that we would be home again.

stayed by our beds and whispered in our ears,

 

She was gentle, but never weak or frail,

Remember Nellie Spindler from Wakefield

the only woman killed at Passchendaele

An angel weeps for her in Flanders Field

 

Once, in her hands, I saw pendant and chain,

an angel weeping solitary tears

It made me think of the oncoming rain.

I would remember that for many years,

She sent it to her sister days before

the hospital was shelled and her fate sealed.

a young life ended by this pointless war

an irony that she could not be healed

 

She was gentle, but never weak or frail,

Remember Nellie Spindler from Wakefield

the only woman killed at Passchendaele

      An angel weeps for her in Flanders Field

 

In Lijssenthoek she lies for ever more

Let history recall the bravery of when

One more soul lost their life in needless war

This only woman amongst ten thousand men

 

She was gentle, but never weak or frail,

Remember Nellie Spindler from Wakefield

the only woman killed at Passchendaele

      An angel weeps for her in Flanders Field

She was gentle, but never weak or frail,

Remember Nellie Spindler from Wakefield

the only woman killed at Passchendaele

      An angel weeps for her in Flanders Field