A bomber has crashed in yonder field!-
The briar buds are bursting now.
Its engine spat fire; with tortured scream,
It plunged to the ground, a demon of flame and steel -
Pink blossom falls from the almond bough.
The wallflowers are blowing, red, yellow and brown -
They drove at high speed, to save the town.
The skylark, high mounting, trills his jubilant lay;
The jasmine is shimmering in golden array -
The explosion rocked dwellings for miles around.
How young would they be? How young would they be?-
Oh, child, come here quickly to me!
The rooks noisily build on topmost bough -
They avoided the houses for our sakes, somehow -
Leaves, heart-shaped, unfold on the lilac tree.
From that blazing inferno they thought not to escape;
They remembered us, and we came to no harm.
O God, for their mothers to learn of their fate!
Young bodies they treasured, crushed all out of shape.
Crushed all out of shape, broken, twisted and charred!-
The linnets are preening in the noonday calm,
The calm of the spring's noonday.
Posts
