10 MARCH 1944, Page 11

PENELOPE

CERTAIN parting does not wait its hour

for separation ; too soon the shadow lies upon the heart and chokes the voice, its power drives on the minutes, it implies tomorrow while today's still here.

They sat by firelight and his shadow fell for the last time, she thought, black patterning gold sharp on the firelit wall. So, to compel the evening to outlast tht morning's cold dawn by the quayside and the unshed tears, she took a charred twig from the hearth and drew tIkt outline of his shadow on the wall.

"These were his features, this the hand I knew." She heard her voice saying the words through all the future days of solitude and fear.

URSULA WOOD.