The Old Airfield

 

 

Strolling through these fields so green

Where once a throng of life has been

A feeling so evoked in me

Of sadness amidst tranquillity

 

For beneath where now grows golden corn

Bonds as strong as steel were born

Laughter, tears and stories shared

Amongst the comrades of the air

 

And as on concrete strips I tread

The backbone from whence missions led

I can almost hear the roar

As engines to the heavens soar

 

“We count them out, we count them in”

Through the ever ascending din

This, by those who watched and cared

For men whose lives might not be spared

 

Day after day, night after night

Into another enduring flight

The hardcore now so cracked and worn

Each tell a story for those who mourn

 

Yet now looking up to the clear night sky

Over the airfield to stars on high

I feel sure that in this patchwork of land

Our faithful friends stretch out their hands

 

This land which now yields sheaves of gold

Will forever breathe a life of old

Never forget – they came, they went

And for you and me their lives were spent.

 

 

 

   Kate Kirkum

   May 2004