Veterans Remembrance Day

This is a bit late, but I wanted to share my war poetry in honour of the pilots and soldiers who have lost their lives in world wars that now keep us safe and secure. We remember them. The first poem - Fear is a Ghost in The Night Sky has been published on a war poetry site in the UK.

I was a young child during the latter years of WWII and have always been fascinated by the incredible bravery of the pilots of all countries that had a part in air war, particularly the Battle of Britain. I was born on Battle of Britain Day, September 17, 1940. That was the day that Hitler called off his invasion of Britain indefinitely, So the following poem is dedicated to those brave men and women. Although in the culture of the day women were not fighter or bomber pilots, except in Russia, they trained pilots and ferried planes from airfield to airfield and helped to keep the air war machine in full operation.

Fear is a Ghost in the Night Sky

Twin Bristol engines drumming

Thrumming just out of synch

Rumbling through the ink black sky

A wounded Beaufighter flying home

Cocoon of the returning crew

Pilot and gunner stare into the murk

Do they see Death staring back?

But the 109s won’t find them

Not here – stay in cloud – don’t panic

Borne home on angels’ wings tonight

The old plane vibrating, shaking

Descending to the coast – almost home

Families hover around the radio

Hoping for news of loved ones return

Fear is a ghost in the night sky

The following poem is in draft form - I'm still workin' on it! But I wanted to write something that would honour those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom today.

Eleventh hour – day – and month

The front is quiet as a tomb

A reconnaissance plane drones across the sky

The smell lingers from the big guns

Those guns are silent

And the fallen are silent too

They would cry out if they could –

No more mothers and babes dead from shrapnel

Let there be war no more

In our haste to kill, kill, kill

Shovels scrape on stone

As shallow graves are dug

Some were the last to fall --

One or two minutes to peace for George Price and Henry Gunther

Then eternity – they are the heroes

Who bravely answered that last call to arms

Let there be war no more