Source: File: Paulette Verdoot. See an original image
at: <http://carmen.demunt.be/pls/carmen/carmen4.document?t=1&aid=665786&id=577779&sid=-1>
[Accessed 3 August 2016]
With enemy occupation
Belgium
civilians inevitably
Mingled with the occupiers.
A letter from Holland
Told of a Belgium
dancer,
As penned by a friend.
Having made a theatre
Career, Paulette Verdoot
Had made her name by
War’s start - though her
Fiancé, to whom she was
True, had been interned.
With her roles as dancer,
Paulette was well admired.
A Prussian officer made
His attentions known, to
The point of wanting them
To marry – Paulette refused.
This Prussian officer then
Began to persecute her -
Learning her fiancé, a Belgian
Officer was a prisoner of war
In Germany
- the Prussian
Knew the camp commander.
Having such influence
The Prussian would be able
The Prussian would be able
To affect her fiancé - to court
Paulette he promised favours
For him - or a court martial
If she continued to refuse.
Paulette Verdoot, it was told,
Bore these alternate acts
Of persecution for some
Weeks, until she could take
It no longer - Paulette
Finally used a gun in suicide.
By Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1916. Victim
Of Hun Terrorism. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 1 August 1916. P.10. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12212356/Daily-Telegraph-August-1-1916.html [Accessed: 3 August 2016].
Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 3 August 2016).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered #WW1Belgium
No comments:
Post a Comment