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I loved what Sir Cliff Richard said this week of the time he guided Dame Vera Lynn to the stage, through crowds of veterans, for the 50th celebrations of VE Day in 1995. “They were reaching out to touch and get a smile from Vera,” he said. “I heard the words: “God bless you... thank you... we love you.”’ Of course, many of those first hearts to be captured by the Forces Sweetheart have long since gone ahead of her. But the fact that her most iconic song, We’ll Meet Again, is cherished not just by the class of ’39, but by their children’s children, shows the power of a song to move us. How revolutionary, in a way, that it gave a nation of buttoned-up Brits the words to say. As Dame Vera said, [It was] a very basic human message of the sort that people want to say to each other but find embarrassing to put into words. And how fascinating, the song was almost banned for sentimentality. "As I saw it," she said, it "was reminding the boys of what they were really fighting for, the precious, personal things.” A more feminine, spiritual complement, perhaps, within the context of conflict. And a reminder for us, beyond any present jingoism, to ask, What are we fighting for? For the song does reach to us. Offering hope and resilience, as referenced by the Queen, within the isolation of lockdown; and being carried on the air of the VE Day celebrations this May. I remember, that night, stepping outside to hear a distant trumpeter play its tune; people sang, and cheers arose, along with goose bumps on my arm. It’s not just that it connects us evocatively back to the war, but that it resonates with our universal longing for homecoming and reunion. And for me, in a sense, it begs an immortal question: “Will we meet again?” When the journalist Cole Moreton dared to ask Dame Vera, in her final interview, whether she thought we would, beyond death, she replied, “I think there has to be something. What it is, I don’t know. I wasn’t brought up to pray. It’s a difficult subject.” That’s where her music does the talking, like a psalm. But, as someone who was brought up to pray myself, I think of Jesus’ promise to the thief on the cross, that they will be reunited that very same day. And I hope Dame Vera wouldn’t mind me saying that her song enriches my faith in such a promise for us all. In the words of the veterans, God bless you, Dame Vera. Thank you. We love you. Until that sunny day…