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Some Came Not Back |
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"War" is a three-letter word,
A sound we wish we'd never heard.
A four-letter word is "flak",
Some B-29's came not back!
Three thousand miles to fly
With flak and fighters in the sky.
Crews always anxious to "hit the sack"
But some 29's come not back!
Many eyes and ears looking west;
Ground crews knew the did their best;
Yet, no sight or sound in the sky;
Lord, not another dozen men to die!
Maybe they stopped for a cup of joe
On that lonely Rock called Iwo.
Could it be that its faith we lack,
And perhaps "tomorrow", they'll be back?
Sometimes "tomorrow" never comes,
But we strain our hearing for the hum
Of a long-delayed flight of 57 years;
Six decades of anxious tears;
And waiting on Saipan and Tinian
Are old men with long white beards'
" Welcome home", we'll say,
" We knew you'd return some day."
Could it be the Navigator made a fix
On some bright star in another land,
And a shiny B-29 is safe in her hardstand,
Without loss of a single man?
And so, who is waiting for whom?
I have heard that in Heaven there is room
For all the B-29's and their crews.
It is God's runway that they choose!
Up there, all the bombs are defused,
And the engines, not a drop of oil they lose.
Every cylinder of every engine in perfect tune.
If I am dreaming, don't awaken me
For row on row of shiny B-29's I see! |
By
C. Douglas Caffey
Copyright 2002
Listed March
24, 2009 |
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Author's Bio:
C. Douglas Caffey is a disabled veteran of WWII. He
served (1944-1946) in the 509th Composite Bomb Group,
58th Wing, Air Photo Unit, 20th Air Force, United States
Army Air Force. It was the 509th who dropped the atomic
bombs on Japan and did the atom bomb tests at Bikini in
the Pacific. A chronic sufferer of PTSD since WWII, Doug
is a former college dean. He started writing poetry
several years ago and though he doesn't claim to be a
poet, he does claim to write from the heart. |
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