Albert Powers Poet Free verse

Air Force

  AIR FORCE


There were those times
On long missions over Laos and the Gulf of Tonkin
When a weariness settled over us
Over pilot and navigator and crew
Settled on us like a resigned acceptance
Like the letting go before sleep arrives
Our shoulders sagged
And our voices became hoarse
It was as if we were entering another dimension
Where worry was not a concern.

And then over the radio came the voice of an F105 pilot
On a bombing run over Hanoi
Whose voice sounded the weariest of all
MAYDAY! He called out on emergency frequency
My plane's been hit and I'm bailing out
As if he realized at that moment
That his life hung on more than his parachute
On more than a missing man formation. 

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