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Dedicated to Airman Hank and all Veterans
Your quick glance peers through
My material world in slices
Quietens all my sensory and perceptions
Contradicts upbringing and conventions
With focus on your painful glance
I reflect upon my relevance
Through words and pictures I begin to understand
The quest and final flight of Veteran Hank.
Hank's Quest
Shot Down in Flame
Searing flames dance around the metal frame
Sandy, the crew - God they are in pain
But the scream of those who soon depart
Marks silently the journey that just starts !!
Sixty years I retrace my steps in vein
Buried from my family my living pain
To wrestle with the flames that danced
And put closure to this fate of chance
Years of war, peace and glory
Means so distant to me in Calgary
Crushed are the bones of my crewman friends
Burnt are the fleshes of Airman Hank
Death is near but I am spared
Hospital in England provides us with care
Guinea Pigs we are in kinship and spirit
Healed are our faces by tears from the visits
Guinea Pigs we called ourselves in jest
The years go by - we are counting less !!
The family they are grown up now
My face hides what still gnarls
The night of that fateful flight
Down from the falling sky
Quest for the crushing site
My hope faltering ...
Like a kite.Resolution at the Site
I breathe in the trees, the flowers and the beautiful field
My son's hand rests reassuringly still
How I wish I did not grow old
Just like Sandy, Charles
and Harold
Back to Calgary
Although I can feel death's stare
There is no need to be scared
My journey soon rejoins with Mary Rose
My heart, my ashes, body and soul
The bomb has left the crippled plane
The load that kept me years in pain
A chapter is closed in my heart
The Club has always been a part
The country enlists all her sons
The Good Lord calls us one-by-one
There is no need to take and pick
On the Final Flight of 626
Epilogue
In October 2005, I was greatly moved after listening to the CBC broadcast about a true World War II story "The Final Flight of 626". This poem is dedicated to Veteran Hank who witnessed the death of his fellow crew members Sandy, Charles, and Harold, as the plan was going down. He ended up in the burn unit of a hospital in England where he met others like him. They called the hospital the Club and themselves the guinea pigs.
Your quick glance peers through
My material world in slices
Quietens all my sensory and perceptions
Contradicts upbringing and conventions
With focus on your painful glance
I reflect upon my relevance
Through words and pictures I begin to understand
The quest and final flight of Veteran Hank.
Hank's Quest
Shot Down in Flame
Searing flames dance around the metal frame
Sandy, the crew - God they are in pain
But the scream of those who soon depart
Marks silently the journey that just starts !!
Sixty years I retrace my steps in vein
Buried from my family my living pain
To wrestle with the flames that danced
And put closure to this fate of chance
Years of war, peace and glory
Means so distant to me in Calgary
Crushed are the bones of my crewman friends
Burnt are the fleshes of Airman Hank
Death is near but I am spared
Hospital in England provides us with care
Guinea Pigs we are in kinship and spirit
Healed are our faces by tears from the visits
Guinea Pigs we called ourselves in jest
The years go by - we are counting less !!
The family they are grown up now
My face hides what still gnarls
The night of that fateful flight
Down from the falling sky
Quest for the crushing site
My hope faltering ...
Like a kite.Resolution at the Site
I breathe in the trees, the flowers and the beautiful field
My son's hand rests reassuringly still
How I wish I did not grow old
Just like Sandy, Charles
and Harold
Back to Calgary
Although I can feel death's stare
There is no need to be scared
My journey soon rejoins with Mary Rose
My heart, my ashes, body and soul
The bomb has left the crippled plane
The load that kept me years in pain
A chapter is closed in my heart
The Club has always been a part
The country enlists all her sons
The Good Lord calls us one-by-one
There is no need to take and pick
On the Final Flight of 626
Epilogue
In October 2005, I was greatly moved after listening to the CBC broadcast about a true World War II story "The Final Flight of 626". This poem is dedicated to Veteran Hank who witnessed the death of his fellow crew members Sandy, Charles, and Harold, as the plan was going down. He ended up in the burn unit of a hospital in England where he met others like him. They called the hospital the Club and themselves the guinea pigs.
After the war, he married to Mary Rose and started his family. But the memory of that fateful flight always haunted him. Sixty years later, after the death of his wife, he decided to go back to England and to locate the crash site where his friends had died. With local help, he retraced the flight path and was able to found the spot where the plane fell out of the sky. With his son besides him, he could almost see his young self, laughing and joking with Sandy, Charles and Harold - except only one of them had grown old. Upon returning to his home in Calgary, he found peace in himself, had closure on this chapter of his life, and looked forward to joining his wife on the Final Flight of 626.
Photo credits:
* Avro Lancaster bomber: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Lancaster
* Canadian pilots: http://www.spitcrazy.com/RCAF%20Postcards.htm
* Women of the War Years: http://www.airmuseum.ca/wowy02.html
Other references:
* Info on airplanes: http://www.airmuseum.ca/
* Info on the Avro Lancaster: http://www.aviation-history.com/avro/683.html
* World War II Poems from Kathleen Lowe Oliver, Battle of Britain, R.A.F.: http://www.freewebs.com/ww2poems/
* Taiwan's "228 和平紀念日" is different, according to this website: http://www.yzu.edu.tw/E_news/250/information/1.htm
6 comments:
We honor the war veterans on Veterans Day in U.S. today. Imagine if Nazis and Imperial Japan won the WWII, our lives will be very different today.
Keith: Similarly, if the Brits had not won the opium war, the colony of HK would not have existed, my ancestors would not have moved there to settle, my parents would not have met, and I wouldn't be here writing to you in English !!!
Arrrgh !!!
That is interesting. Or, if U.S. didn't join the WWII, you would be writing Japanese in China occupied by Japan. Or, perhaps, you would be a collaborator seduced by parades of beautiful spy women. Most likely you wouldn't be writing to me, since I would be busy plotting to overthrowing Japanese and its collaborator government :o).
Keith: Hey, wait a minute !! When we were little, we all wanted to play the good guys. So, how come you want me to play the collaborator? Hey? Hey? =:-(
Okay, okay, you can be resistant if you want. When we played soldier and bandit (tag) in grade school, we took turn to be either role. I recall there were kids who always want to soldier (and I was one of them). On the other hand, I didn't think any guy mind playing Tony Leung who had all those sizzling love scenes with Tang Wei. :-)
各花入各眼 .....
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