Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, R.A.F. (1940), by SYLVIA DRYHURST LYND


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

R.A.F. (1940), by                    
First Line: I heard the squadron flying home
Last Line: Call them the squadron flying home.
Alternate Author Name(s): Lynd, Mrs. Robert
Subject(s): Royal Air Force; World War Ii; Second World War


I heard the squadron flying home
At midnight high among the stars;
Never did tale of Greece or Rome
Tell of such heroes or such wars.

Legend nor boast nor history
Proclaims such deeds as these achieve,
Who daily fight Thermopylae,
Who snatch the glove from Death, and live.

Perseus and Bellerophon,
They, too, were fighters and had wings,
They fought with monsters and they won,
And in the stars their glory rings.

Castor and Pollux keep their station,
Neither do we dispute their claim
If a more glorious constellation
Should mark a still more glorious fame.

Instead of Bear, or Wain, or Plough,
Splendid to see in night's great dome,
Give to those stars a new name now,
Call them the Squadron Flying Home.





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