Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AN ENGLISHMAN TO A GERMAN AVIATOR, by MORRIE RYSKIND


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AN ENGLISHMAN TO A GERMAN AVIATOR, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ay, we are enemies-and deadly ones
Last Line: There is no room within our hearts for hate.
Subject(s): Air Warfare; Death; Enemies; World War I; Dead, The; First World War


"... The enemy monoplane sails serenely toward us, and the guns begin to go. ...

Of course he is a German and therefore damnable. But—but—well ... I
don't think that patriotism compels me to hate that airman up there. Crack-
crack! go the guns. He sails on.
... A dim sporting instinct ... shoots through my mind and I discover in
myself no passionate desire to see him hit."

—William McFee in the Atlantic Monthly for May, 1917.

AY, we are enemies—and deadly ones.
There is no truce between us—nor shall be:
We fight with you on land, in air, at sea;
We fight with bombs, with knives, with swords, with guns;
We give our hearts' blood and we give our sons.
Freedom has called, and, answering her plea,
We give our all—and give ungrudgingly—
That Earth be purged of this plague of Huns.
And you up there—we ought to hate you, too.
For if they would our hearts could not forget
This bloody, bitter business that we do
And why we make the sacrifice. ... And yet
For such as you, defying God and Fate,
There is no room within our hearts for hate.





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