Stay sleeping my love, for I’m not here long;
I want you to be strong:
The angels are singing and calling my name,
This soul they do proclaim;
I’ve come tonight my dear to say goodbye,
And for a brief moment with you close lie.
We ran to the planes, when the bell had rung,
A rushing of the young,
The smell of daisies, mixed with engine oil,
Drifted amongst our toil;
Cries of encouragement, we shouted out,
‘God bless! For our country!’ Strong hearts devout.
I’ll miss the soft touch of your crimson lips
That did my fears eclipse;
Those pale green eyes, that filled my every thought
Will soon be but distraught.
Sumptuous streaming hair, heaven’s perfume,
My yearning for you now does hope consume.
We rose as one, a blanket of aircraft,
I wish we could have laughed!
The engines roared and the wind groaned outside,
Below the ground did hide,
Beams of luminosity, danced round about,
Inside our cockpits, some feeble redoubt.
I’ll leave you with my wings, oft so proudly worn,
To give our child unborn,
One day tell him that his father had to leave,
But please don’t let him grieve.
‘I fought above England’s fertile pastures green,
So that you my son could flourish serene’.
© Edward Beaman-Hodgkiss
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Edward, good to read you again. This is very well written
Entertain me, will you?
This reminds me of the poems I still love by the World War I poets such as Rupert Brooke. “If I should die think only this of me/There is some corner of a foreign field that is forever England…”
very moving verse full of love and the grief of leaving it!!!
Welcome Gautami, it’s very nice to see you here.
Thank you Granny Smith and Danni for your kind words. I’m glad you liked it.
This provoked quite a few vivid and unexpected images for me. Very inspiring.
deeply moving.
It’s amazing