Looking for a war poem to go along with Flanders Fields, I came across ‘Roundel (Died of Wounds) by Vera Brittain, a nurse in the battlefield dressing stations. The most heart-breaking aspect of it is that she urged her brother and fiance to enlist and they were both killed.

I scored the text for 2-part Treble choir as the children’s voices made it more poignant. In a minor key, as you would expect, but with dissonant chords to add pain and angst. Well done to the All Hallows Chapel Choir for the recording.