Jan Struther

Jan Struther was the pen name of Joyce Anstruther, later Joyce Maxtone Graham and finally Joyce Placzek (6 June 1901 – 20 July 1953), an English writer remembered for her character Mrs. Miniver and a number of hymns, including Lord of All Hopefulness and When a Knight won his Spurs.

Sourced

• O love's a simple word to say
  With nature aiding and abetting;
  • LONDON LOVERS, BETSINDA DANCES AND OTHER POEMS

• For to love, loveless, is a bitter pill:
  But to be loved, unloving, bitterer still.
  • THE CHOICE, BETSINDA DANCES AND OTHER POEMS

• And I am a mockery, who was God before.
  • AGE, BETSINDA DANCES AND OTHER POEMS

• Then say–how come the years to seem so swift,
  The days, the days so slow?
  • A PARADOX, BETSINDA DANCES AND OTHER POEMS

• Come, let us wage a holy war!
  • BALLADE OF VANISHING WILD FLOWERS, BETSINDA DANCES AND OTHER POEMS

• Now heaven be thanked, I am out of love again!
  I have been long a slave, and now am free;
  • FREEDOM, BETSINDA DANCES AND OTHER POEMS

• To be entirely at leisure for one day is to be for one day an immortal:
  • The New Car, Mrs. Miniver

• In childhood the daylight always fails too soon -- except when there are going to be fireworks;
  • Guy Fawkes' Day, Mrs. Miniver

• She noted with delight that he really did say "Ha!" This made a valuable addition to her collection. She had lately acquired a "Humph!" and two "Whews!" but she was still waiting in vain for a "Pshaw!"
  • The Eve of the Shoot, Mrs. Miniver

Unsourced

• If silence is golden, then speech is platinum — it spreads wisdom, dispels ignorance, ventilates grievances, stimulates curiosity, lightens the spirits and lessens the fundamental loneliness of the soul.