A HAVEN IN GREEN PARK

Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the unveiling of the
RAF Bomber Command Memorial in Green Park London – 28 June 2012

TWO PLANE TREES STANDING PROUD, A LONELY WOMAN GRIEVES
A SCENE ENSCONCED IN SILENCE, THE RUSTLE OF AUTUMN LEAVES
THE LUNCHTIME CROWD ALL SCURRY PAST, WITH HARDLY A SECOND THOUGHT
FOR TIME HAS SEALED THE MEMORY, OF THE BATTLE FOUGHT

SEVEN SCULPTURES CAST IN BRONZE, STARING INTO SPACE
THEIR SIGHTLESS EYES FOREVER BLIND, TO THE PERILS THEY MUST FACE
RAUCOUS LAUGHTER FROM THE MESS, FOR THAT COMRADESHIP THEY YEARN
BRAVE FACES DISGUISE, THE ANXIETY OF THEIR RETURN

A COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS, WITH A SINGLE AIM
WHO TOOK OFF AFTER MIDNIGHT, TO PLAY THEIR DEADLY GAME
PRESSING ON REGARDLESS, WILL MAN EVER LEARN
THE PRIDE OF A NATION, WHOSE CHARIOT BECAME AN URN

YOUNG MEN IN THEIR PRIME, BARELY OUT OF SCHOOL
FOR KING AND FOR COUNTRY, THE NEW GOLDEN RULE
TO TRY AND FREE A WORLD IN CHAINS, FROM THE TYRANTS GRIP
NOT KNOWING THAT FOR HALF OF THEM, IT WOULD BE THEIR FINAL TRIP

ARMCHAIR CRITICS MAY WELL CLAIM, THEIR EFFORTS WERE A FAILURE
FIFTY-SEVEN THOUSAND BRAVE MEN LOST, FOUR THOUSAND FROM AUSTRALIA
A TERRIBLE TOLL THEY HAD TO PAY, TO FREE THOSE LANDS ILL-GOTTEN
IN SPITE OF LORD BUNYON’S POEM THEIR NAMES ARE OFT FORGOTTEN

RAVENS CAW THEIR EPITAPH, SQUIRRELS PEEK FROM THEIR BOUGH
A HUMBLE FITTING TRIBUTE, BETWEEN THEN AND NOW
FOR THOSE WARRIORS OF THE AIR, DEATH WAS COLD AND STARK
THEIR GHOSTS NOW ROAM AT ETERNAL PEACE, IN THE SOLITUDE OF GREEN PARK

 

By Tomas ‘Paddy’ Hamilton

 

FILE PHOTO: Royal Air Force Bomber Command Memorial in London. By Tim Rademacher (via Wikimedia Commons)

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