The Poets & The War XLV

The War Illustrated, Volume 4, No. 98, Page 719, July 18, 1941.

The following lines were written by an airman after a recent crash:

Three days ago
Eternity stood nigh me,
Clean, white as snow
With nothing to deny me
A passing mild,
Some little fame behind me
For Wife and child
Before dull age could blind me.

Senseless I lie,
Five hours unconscious witness,
To live or die?
Nature's stern test of fitness.
Of life the gift
Again so strangely given
Gladly I lift
By some new strength reshriven.

Farewell to fear,
The doubts that ever tied me,
The road is clear
With England's need to guide me.
So high the quest
That every qualm is treason;
Life at its best
Is Faith beyond all reason.

The Times

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