SKYWATCH
DIVE-BOMBING
You, of a younger generation, will simply see a cloud,
Careering across a wild and woolly sky.
You'll see a natural phenomenon, nothing remarkable,
Nothing to make one stop and look on high.
But I saw this through a window, as I travelled by train one day,
And I was spirited back across the years,
To the long-ago time of my childhood, a time of a great World War,
A time of danger, and a time of fears.
I was travelling with my mother, when a V1 attack occurred;
The train stopped in its tracks, no doubt by law,
And a cluster of V1 bombers came throbbing across the sky,
A parade of them was what the passengers saw.
They were all of them heading for London, unmanned bombs up in the sky,
With their cute little motor-bike engines on full-purr,
And we all of us sat and listened as they burbled overhead,
Waiting for something awful to occur.
What we waited for was silence, for when the purring ceased,
We knew that the bomb would fall down like a stone.
It was one of the eeriest non-sounds that one could ever hear,
Certainly the worst I'd ever known.
One or two bombs fell near us, but we remained quite safe,
And continued on our journey with a smile.
But that period of waiting was etched into my brain,
Though I hadn't thought about it for a while;
Till I looked out of that window and saw that harmless cloud,
And wondered why I felt a sudden chill.
Memory plays funny tricks and some memories never fade,
And I suspect they never, never will.
*
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Gosford Japanese Garden: Brenda Bryant
ENCIRCLED
A circular window! What an attraction!
Encircling the peace, or a piece of the action!
Framing the picture, enticing the eye,
Making a link between garden and sky.
An extension of vision, completing the scene,
Rounding the whole where 'unfinished' had been.
Like a droplet of water, reflecting the light,
And adding to our Oriental delight.
*
3 comments:
I just remember my mother returning home one day
and telling of what happened. After that I listened often, being a somewhat nervous child likely to run off
to the Anderson air raid shelter at the bottom of the garden on the slightest suspicious noise overhead. I was living in Surrey in those days and, yes, there are
some experiences one never forgets. Interesting that a particular cloud can remind you of those far off days!
Great post and story. I can not imagine living back in those times. Your memories are very dramatic like the sky.
Oh yes, Brenda, I can see how that would bring back memories. A very scary cloud.
— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
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