Latest / 4 Science Fiction Stories by Mack Reynolds / Dawn Patrol, and Other Poems of an Aviator-Paul Bewsher
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Section 1 of The Dawn Patrol and Other Poems of
- 0:04Speaker 1: an Aviator. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
- 0:09Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
- 0:14Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Bruce Kachuk. The Dawn Patrol
- 0:21Speaker 1: and Other Poems of an Aviator by Paul Boucher. The
- 0:26Speaker 1: Dawn Patrol. Sometimes I fly at dawn above the sea,
- 0:32Speaker 1: where underneath the restless waters flow, silver and cold and slow.
- 0:40Speaker 1: Dim in the east there burns a newborn sun, whose
- 0:44Speaker 1: rosy gleams along the ripples run, save where the mist
- 0:49Speaker 1: droops low, hiding the level loneliness from me. and now
- 0:55Speaker 1: appears beneath the milk-white haze a little fleet of anchored
- 0:59Speaker 1: ships which lie in clustered company and seem as they
- 1:05Speaker 1: are yet fast bound by sleep although the day has
- 1:09Speaker 1: long begun to peep with red inflamed eye along the
- 1:15Speaker 1: still deserted ocean ways the fresh cold wind of dawn
- 1:21Speaker 1: blows on my face as in the sun's raw heart
- 1:25Speaker 1: i swiftly fly and watch the seas glide by scarce
- 1:31Speaker 1: human seem i moving through the skies and far removed
- 1:36Speaker 1: from warlike enterprise like some great gull on high whose
- 1:41Speaker 1: white and gleaming wings beat on through space then do
- 1:47Speaker 1: i feel with god quite quite alone high in the
- 1:52Speaker 1: virgin morn, so white and still, and free from human ill.
- 1:59Speaker 1: My prayers transcend my feeble earthbound plains, as though I
- 2:05Speaker 1: sang among the happy saints with many a holy thrill,
- 2:11Speaker 1: as though the glowing sun were God's bright throne. My
- 2:17Speaker 1: flight is done. i cross the line of foam that
- 2:22Speaker 1: breaks around a town of gray and red whose streets
- 2:27Speaker 1: and squares lie dead beneath the silent dawn then am
- 2:33Speaker 1: i proud that england's peace to guard i am allowed
- 2:38Speaker 1: then bow my humble head in thanks to him who
- 2:43Speaker 1: brings me safely home luc 1917. The Joy of Flying
- 3:16Speaker 1: When heavy on my tired mind the world and worldly
- 3:20Speaker 1: things do weigh, and some sweet solace I would find,
- 3:24Speaker 1: into the sky I love to stray, and all alone
- 3:29Speaker 1: to wander round in lone seclusion from the ground. Ah,
- 3:34Speaker 1: then what solitude is mine from grovelling mankind aloof? Their
- 3:40Speaker 1: road is but a thin-drawn line, their busy house a
- 3:44Speaker 1: scarce-seen roof. that little stain of red and brown they
- 3:49Speaker 1: boast about it is their town how small their petty
- 3:54Speaker 1: quarrels seem poor crawling multitudes below which like the ants
- 4:00Speaker 1: in feverish stream from place to place move to and
- 4:04Speaker 1: fro like ants they work like ants they fight assuming
- 4:09Speaker 1: blindly they are right soon their existence i forget in
- 4:15Speaker 1: joy that on these flashing wings i cleave the skies
- 4:20Speaker 1: oh let them fret now know i why the skylark
- 4:24Speaker 1: sings untrammel'd in the boundless air for mine it is
- 4:30Speaker 1: his bliss to share now do i mount a billowy
- 4:34Speaker 1: cloud now do i sail low o'er a hill and
- 4:38Speaker 1: with a sea-gull skill endowed circle and wheel and drop
- 4:43Speaker 1: at will above the villages asleep above the valleys shadowed
- 4:49Speaker 1: deep above the water-meadows green whose streams which intermingled flow
- 4:56Speaker 1: like silver lattice-work are seen agleam upon the plain below
- 5:02Speaker 1: above the woods whose naked trees move new-born buds upon
- 5:07Speaker 1: the breeze and far away above the haze i see
- 5:11Speaker 1: white mountain summits rise whose snow with sunlight is ablaze
- 5:17Speaker 1: and shines against the distant skies such thoughts those towering
- 5:23Speaker 1: ranges bring that i float on a-wandering so do i
- 5:28Speaker 1: love to travel on through lonely skies myself alone for
- 5:35Speaker 1: then the feverish fret is gone which on this earth
- 5:39Speaker 1: I oft have known. Kind is the God who lets
- 5:43Speaker 1: me fly in sweet seclusion through the sky. France, 1917.
- 5:51Speaker 1: End of section two. The Joy of Flying. Section three.
- 6:04Speaker 1: of the dawn patrol and other poems of an aviator
- 6:08Speaker 1: by paul boucher this librivox recording is in the public
- 6:12Speaker 1: domain the crash the rich red blood doth stain the
- 6:20Speaker 1: fair green grass and daisies white in generous flood this
- 6:26Speaker 1: sundroused day for me is darkest night oh wreck of
- 6:32Speaker 1: splintered wood and twisted wire what blind unmeasured hatred you
- 6:36Speaker 1: inspire because yours was the power that life to end
- 6:42Speaker 1: of him who was my friend this morn we lay
- 6:47Speaker 1: upon the grass and watched the languid hours pass a
- 6:52Speaker 1: lark deep in the sky's blue sea sang ecstasies to
- 6:57Speaker 1: him and me and with the daisies did he play
- 7:01Speaker 1: as on the waving grass we lay and made a
- 7:05Speaker 1: little daisy chain to bring his childhood back again and
- 7:10Speaker 1: while he watched the clouds above he drifted into thoughts
- 7:14Speaker 1: of love he said i know why skylarks sing because
- 7:19Speaker 1: they love and it is spring and if i had
- 7:22Speaker 1: a voice as they so would i sing this golden
- 7:25Speaker 1: may Because I love, and loved am I. and when
- 7:30Speaker 1: i wander through the sky i wish i had a
- 7:33Speaker 1: skylark's voice and with such singing could rejoice oh happy
- 7:38Speaker 1: happy are these days my heart is full of deep-felt
- 7:42Speaker 1: praise and thanks to god who brings this bliss oh
- 7:47Speaker 1: what a happiness is this to lie upon the grass
- 7:51Speaker 1: and know in two short days that i shall go
- 7:54Speaker 1: and see my love's fair face again and wander in
- 7:58Speaker 1: some flowery lane forgetting all the world around and only
- 8:03Speaker 1: knowing i have found a spring enchantment which is mine
- 8:07Speaker 1: through god's sweet sympathy divine may these two days now
- 8:12Speaker 1: swiftly pass he laughed upon the sunlit grass the days
- 8:19Speaker 1: have passed but past alas how slow see down the
- 8:25Speaker 1: road a sad procession go oh hear the wailing music
- 8:31Speaker 1: moan why why such grief am i to know dear
- 8:36Speaker 1: god i wish i were alone for by the grave
- 8:42Speaker 1: a girl with streaming eyes doth make mine dim while
- 8:47Speaker 1: high among the sunny springtime skies the larks still him France, 1917.
- 8:56Speaker 1: The Night Raid around me broods the dim mysterious night
- 9:28Speaker 1: starlit and still no whisper comes across the plain asleep
- 9:34Speaker 1: beneath the breezes light which scarcely stir the growing grain
- 9:41Speaker 1: slow chimes the quiet midnight hour in some unseen and
- 9:46Speaker 1: distant tower while round me broods the vague mysterious night
- 9:53Speaker 1: Starlet and cool and still. And I must desecrate this
- 10:00Speaker 1: silent time of drowsy dreams on mighty wings towards the
- 10:06Speaker 1: sky towards the stars i have to climb and o'er
- 10:11Speaker 1: the sleeping country fly and such far-echoing clamour make that
- 10:17Speaker 1: all the villages must wake So must I desecrate this
- 10:22Speaker 1: quiet time Of soft and drowsy dreams. The hour comes.
- 10:30Speaker 1: Soon must I say farewell to this fair earth. Then
- 10:34Speaker 1: to my little room I go, Where I perhaps no
- 10:38Speaker 1: more shall dwell. Shall I return? The gods but know.
- 10:45Speaker 1: Perchance again I shall not sleep, on that white bed
- 10:50Speaker 1: in silence deep for soon the hour comes to say
- 10:55Speaker 1: farewell to this fair friendly earth i stand there long
- 11:02Speaker 1: before into the gloom i take my way there are
- 11:07Speaker 1: the pictures of my friends and all the treasures of
- 11:11Speaker 1: my room on which my lamp soft radiance sends and
- 11:16Speaker 1: long with lingering gaze i look upon each much-beloved book
- 11:22Speaker 1: i stand and dream before into the gloom i sadly
- 11:28Speaker 1: take my way and now i gain the field whence
- 11:33Speaker 1: i must part upon my quest my pegasus of wood
- 11:38Speaker 1: and steel is ready straining at the start the governor
- 11:44Speaker 1: is at the wheel and with an ever-growing roar across
- 11:47Speaker 1: the hidden fields we soar so with one envious look
- 11:52Speaker 1: from earth i part upon my midnight quest beneath me
- 11:58Speaker 1: lies the sleeping countryside hazy and dim and here and
- 12:04Speaker 1: there a little gleam like stars upon the heavens wide
- 12:08Speaker 1: speaks of some wretch who cannot dream but on his
- 12:12Speaker 1: bed all night must toss and hear me as i
- 12:16Speaker 1: pass across in droning flight above the countryside hazy and
- 12:22Speaker 1: huge and dim and in the great blue night i
- 12:27Speaker 1: ever rise towards the stars as to the hostile lands
- 12:32Speaker 1: i sail high in the dark and cloudless skies whose
- 12:37Speaker 1: gloom our gloomy wings doth veil beneath a scarce-seen ribbon
- 12:43Speaker 1: shows where through the woods a river flows as in
- 12:47Speaker 1: the shadowy night i ever rise towards the scattered stars
- 12:54Speaker 1: now high above war's frontiers do i sit above the
- 12:58Speaker 1: lines great lights like flowers rise and fall. On either
- 13:05Speaker 1: side red flashes spit hot death at those poor souls
- 13:10Speaker 1: which crawl on secret errands. Oh, how grim must be
- 13:15Speaker 1: that midnight slaughter dim, and happy am I that so
- 13:19Speaker 1: high I sit above those cruel lines. Each man beneath
- 13:26Speaker 1: me now detests my race with iron hate. Each tiny
- 13:31Speaker 1: light I see must shine upon some grim, unfriendly face
- 13:36Speaker 1: who curses England's name and mine, and would be glad
- 13:41Speaker 1: if both were gone. But steadily must I fly on,
- 13:47Speaker 1: though every soul beneath me loathes my race with stern,
- 13:52Speaker 1: unceasing hate. I see a far-flung city all ablaze with
- 13:57Speaker 1: jeweled lamps, i trace its keys its roads its squares
- 14:03Speaker 1: and all its intermingled ways and as i wonder how
- 14:07Speaker 1: it dares to flaunt itself the city dies and in
- 14:12Speaker 1: an utter darkness lies for i have terrified that town
- 14:17Speaker 1: ablaze with twinkling jewelled lamps but see the furnace with
- 14:23Speaker 1: its ruddy breath which i must wreck the searchlights sweep
- 14:27Speaker 1: across the sky long-fingered ministers of death i look deep
- 14:33Speaker 1: in their cold blue eye incessant shells with blinding light
- 14:38Speaker 1: show every wire clear and white there is the furnace
- 14:43Speaker 1: with its ruddy breath which i must wreck it lies
- 14:48Speaker 1: beneath my time has come at last to do my
- 14:52Speaker 1: work i wait oh will you never stop your fearful
- 14:56Speaker 1: shells that burst so fast and then i hear destruction
- 15:01Speaker 1: drop behind my back as i release such fearful death
- 15:06Speaker 1: with such great ease burst on you shells my time
- 15:12Speaker 1: has come at last to do my deadly work then
- 15:17Speaker 1: do i turn and hurry swiftly back towards my home
- 15:22Speaker 1: I gladly leave that place behind. No more I hear
- 15:26Speaker 1: the shrapnels crack. No more my eyes the searchlights blind.
- 15:31Speaker 1: I cross the lines with lightning breast and sail into
- 15:36Speaker 1: the friendly west. How glad am I to hurry swiftly
- 15:40Speaker 1: back towards my peaceful home. I reach the field and
- 15:45Speaker 1: then I softly land. My work is o'er. i leave
- 15:51Speaker 1: my hot and panting steed and clasp a comrade's outstretched
- 15:56Speaker 1: hand and with him to my bedroom speed then over
- 16:01Speaker 1: steaming beakers set the night's fierce menace soon forget how
- 16:07Speaker 1: great a welcome waits me when i land when all
- 16:10Speaker 1: my work is o'er but ere i search shy sleep
- 16:15Speaker 1: on my white bed i greet the dawn and think
- 16:20Speaker 1: with heart weighed down with grief how cruel this dawn
- 16:25Speaker 1: to those whose dead lie shattered torn whom like a
- 16:30Speaker 1: thief at darkest midnight i have slain poor unknown victims
- 16:38Speaker 1: real my pain what widows orphans sweethearts see their dead
- 16:44Speaker 1: this cruel hopeless dawn France, 1917. End of section four,
- 16:56Speaker 1: The Night Raid. Section five of The Dawn Patrol and
- 17:06Speaker 1: Other Poems of an Aviator by Paul Boucher. This LibriVox
- 17:11Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Despair the long and
- 17:17Speaker 1: tedious months move slowly by and february's chill has fled
- 17:23Speaker 1: away before the gales of march and now e'en they
- 17:28Speaker 1: have died upon the peaceful april sky and still i
- 17:35Speaker 1: sadly wonder still i sigh and all the splendor of
- 17:41Speaker 1: each springtime day is dyed for me one melancholy gray
- 17:47Speaker 1: and all its beauty can but make me cry for
- 17:53Speaker 1: thou art silent o far-distant friend and not one word
- 17:58Speaker 1: has come to cheer my heart through these sad months
- 18:03Speaker 1: which seem to have no end so distant seems the
- 18:09Speaker 1: day which bade us part Oh, speak, dear fair-haired angel.
- 18:16Speaker 1: Spring has smiled, and I despair. A broken-hearted child. France, 1917.
- 18:26Speaker 1: End of Section 5. Despair. Section 6. The Horrors of
- 18:41Speaker 1: Flying The day is cold, the wind is strong, And
- 18:43Speaker 1: through the sky great cloud-banks throng, While swaths of snow
- 18:46Speaker 1: lie on the ground, O'er which I walk without a sound.
- 18:48Speaker 1: But I have vowed to fly to-day, though winds are
- 19:12Speaker 1: fierce and clouds are gray my aeroplane is on the
- 19:16Speaker 1: field so i must fly my fate is sealed and
- 19:21Speaker 1: no excuses can i make within its back my place
- 19:25Speaker 1: i take i strap myself inside the seat and press
- 19:30Speaker 1: the rudder with my feet and hold the wheel with
- 19:34Speaker 1: nervous grip and gaze around my little ship for on
- 19:38Speaker 1: its wire rigging taut depends my life which will be
- 19:43Speaker 1: short if it should fail me in the air swift
- 19:47Speaker 1: then my fall and short my prayer and these my
- 19:52Speaker 1: wings would be my pyre so well i scrutinize each
- 19:57Speaker 1: wire then out across the field i go in shaking
- 20:02Speaker 1: progress noisy slow and turn until the wind i face
- 20:08Speaker 1: then do i look around a space for fear to-day
- 20:13Speaker 1: is at my heart and nervously i fear to start
- 20:19Speaker 1: the field is clear the skies are bare mine is
- 20:23Speaker 1: the freedom of the air and yet i sit and
- 20:28Speaker 1: hesitate although each moment that i wait brings to my
- 20:33Speaker 1: soul a greater fear to me the grass seems very
- 20:38Speaker 1: dear dear seems the hut where dreams have crept to
- 20:43Speaker 1: me each midnight as i slept dear seems the river
- 20:48Speaker 1: by whose brink i oft have watched brown pebbles sink
- 20:52Speaker 1: deep in the crumbling bridge's shade where in the evening
- 20:56Speaker 1: i have strayed my restless hands hold fast the wheel
- 21:02Speaker 1: once more the wing controls i feel i move the
- 21:06Speaker 1: rudder with my feet and settle firmly in the seat
- 21:12Speaker 1: i start and o'er the snowy grass in ever quicker
- 21:16Speaker 1: progress pass on either side the ground streaks by and
- 21:21Speaker 1: soon above the grass i fly i feel the air
- 21:25Speaker 1: beneath the wings at first a greater ease it brings
- 21:29Speaker 1: but soon the stormy strife begins and if i lose
- 21:33Speaker 1: tis death who wins the winds a thousand devils hold
- 21:38Speaker 1: who grasp my wings with fingers bold and keep me
- 21:42Speaker 1: ceaselessly a rock up am i swiftly thrown once more
- 22:02Speaker 1: like no great eagle do i soar but like a
- 22:05Speaker 1: sparrow tempest-tost i struggle on my faith is lost my
- 22:12Speaker 1: former confidence is dead and whispering fear has come instead
- 22:19Speaker 1: death ever dogs me close behind my frightened soul no
- 22:24Speaker 1: peace can find i feel a torture in each nerve
- 22:28Speaker 1: as to the right or left i swerve and now
- 22:32Speaker 1: imagination brings its evil thoughts i watch the wings and
- 22:36Speaker 1: wonder if those wings will break the tight-stretched wires seem
- 22:41Speaker 1: to shake i see the ghastly headlong rush and picture
- 22:45Speaker 1: how the fall would crush my helpless body on the
- 22:49Speaker 1: ground with haggard eyes i turn around and contemplate the
- 22:54Speaker 1: rocking tail my drawn and sweating cheeks are pale fear's
- 23:00Speaker 1: clammy hands clutch at my heart i try with unavailing
- 23:05Speaker 1: art to summon thoughts of peaceful hours spent in some
- 23:09Speaker 1: sunny field of flowers when my half-opened eyes would look
- 23:14Speaker 1: on some old dream-inspiring book and not on this accursed
- 23:19Speaker 1: wheel and on this box of wood and steel In
- 23:23Speaker 1: which at pitch and toss with death I play, And
- 23:27Speaker 1: wonder if each breath I tensely draw Will be my last.
- 23:33Speaker 1: The happy thoughts are swiftly past, My frightened brain forbids
- 23:38Speaker 1: them stay, Dear London seems so far away, And far away,
- 23:44Speaker 1: my well-loved friends, Each second my existence ends In my
- 23:50Speaker 1: disordered mind. whose pace i cannot check its cog-wheels race
- 23:57Speaker 1: like some ungoverned whirring clock when frenziedly it runs amok
- 24:03Speaker 1: i have resolved that i will climb a certain height
- 24:07Speaker 1: how slow seems time as on its sluggish pivot creeps
- 24:11Speaker 1: the laggard finger-point which keeps the truthful record oh how
- 24:17Speaker 1: slow towards the clouds i seem to go and then
- 24:21Speaker 1: ambition gains its mark at last the little finger o'er
- 24:25Speaker 1: the point has passed i can descend again with conscience
- 24:31Speaker 1: clear and end this battle with persistent fear the engine's
- 24:37Speaker 1: clamour dies there is no sound save whistling wires as
- 24:42Speaker 1: towards the ground i gently float my agony is gone
- 24:49Speaker 1: what peace is mine as i go gliding on calm
- 24:54Speaker 1: after storm contentment after pain soft sleep to some tempestuous
- 25:01Speaker 1: burning brain the soothing harbor after foamy seas the gentle
- 25:07Speaker 1: feeling of a perfect ease all all are mine though
- 25:12Speaker 1: yet by gusts distressed near is the ground and with
- 25:18Speaker 1: the ground comes rest above the trees i glide above
- 25:23Speaker 1: the grass above the snow besprinkled earth i pass i
- 25:28Speaker 1: touch the ground run swift along and stop above the
- 25:34Speaker 1: wheel my tired shoulders drop i leave my seat and
- 25:38Speaker 1: slowly move away cold is the wind the clouds are
- 25:44Speaker 1: gray i only wish my room to gain and in
- 25:48Speaker 1: some book forget my pain, and lose myself in fancied
- 25:53Speaker 1: dreams across Titania's golden streams. France, 1917. End of section six.
- 26:06Speaker 1: The Horrors of Flying. Section seven. of the dawn patrol
- 26:16Speaker 1: and other poems of an aviator dreams of autumn when
- 26:28Speaker 1: through the heat of some long afternoon in blazing august
- 26:32Speaker 1: on the grass i lie and watch the white clouds
- 26:36Speaker 1: move across the sky on whose azure is faintly etched
- 26:41Speaker 1: the moon that when the evening deepens will be soon
- 26:45Speaker 1: the brightest figure of those hosts on high my heart
- 26:50Speaker 1: is discontented and i sigh for autumn and its vapours
- 26:56Speaker 1: till i swoon upon the vision of october days in
- 26:59Speaker 1: dreaming london when each mighty tree sheds daily more brown
- 27:04Speaker 1: showers through the haze which lends each street romance and
- 27:10Speaker 1: mystery when pallid silver sunshine only gleams on that grey
- 27:16Speaker 1: lover's city of sweet dreams. I Love Grain, 1916 End
- 27:25Speaker 1: of Section 7 Dreams of Autumn Section 8 of The
- 27:37Speaker 1: Dawn Patrol and Other Poems of an Aviator To Carlton Berry,
- 27:42Speaker 1: Killed in an Aeroplane Accident, July 1916 It was thy will,
- 27:44Speaker 1: O God, and so he died. For seventeen sweet years
- 27:48Speaker 1: he was a child upon whose grace thy lovingkindness smiled.
- 28:08Speaker 1: for he was clean and full of youthful pride and
- 28:12Speaker 1: when his years drew on then thou denied that he
- 28:16Speaker 1: by man's estate should be defiled and so thou call'st
- 28:20Speaker 1: him to thy presence mild to be with thee for
- 28:24Speaker 1: ever by thy side nor is he dead he lives
- 28:30Speaker 1: in three great spheres his soul is with thee in
- 28:34Speaker 1: thy home above, his influence with friends of former years,
- 28:40Speaker 1: his memory with those he used to love. He is
- 28:45Speaker 1: an emblem of that Trinity with whom he lives in
- 28:49Speaker 1: happy ecstasy. I Love Grain, 1916. End of section 8.
- 28:55Speaker 1: To Carlton Berry Section 9 of The Dawn Patrol and
- 29:11Speaker 1: Other Poems of an Aviator by Paul Boucher. This LibriVox
- 29:16Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. London in May Two
- 29:23Speaker 1: long full years have passed since I have smelt sweet
- 29:27Speaker 1: London in this happy month of May. Last year relentless
- 29:33Speaker 1: war bore me away to Imbros Isle, Where six sad
- 29:37Speaker 1: months I dwelt beneath a birch tree. sun, nor ever
- 29:42Speaker 1: felt one breath of gentle spring blow o'er the bay,
- 29:46Speaker 1: between whose sun-dried hills so long I lay, a restless captive.
- 29:53Speaker 1: Now has fortune dealt more kindly with me, Once again
- 29:58Speaker 1: I know the drowsy languor of the afternoons, the soft
- 30:03Speaker 1: white clouds, the may-trees whiter snow, the star-bound evenings, and
- 30:10Speaker 1: the ivory moons. My heart, dear God, leaps up till
- 30:16Speaker 1: it is pain with thanks to thee that I am
- 30:19Speaker 1: here again. London End of section 9 LONDON IN MAY
- 30:28Speaker 1: A FALLEN LEAF When death has crossed my name from
- 30:38Speaker 1: out the roll of dreaming children serving in this war,
- 30:56Speaker 1: and with these earthly eyes i gaze no more upon
- 30:59Speaker 1: sweet england's grace perhaps my soul will visit streets down
- 31:04Speaker 1: which i used to stroll at sunset charmed dusks when
- 31:09Speaker 1: london's roar like ebbing surf on some atlantic shore would
- 31:13Speaker 1: trance the ear then may i hear no toll of
- 31:17Speaker 1: heavy bells to burden all the air with tuneless grief
- 31:22Speaker 1: for happy will i be What place on earth could
- 31:26Speaker 1: ever be more fair than God's own presence? Mourn not
- 31:32Speaker 1: then for me, nor write, I pray. He gave, upon
- 31:38Speaker 1: my clod, his life to England, but his soul to God.
- 31:46Speaker 1: I Love Sheppey, 1917. I stood one azure dusk in
- 32:01Speaker 1: old Auxerre, Before the grey cathedral's towering height, and in
- 32:23Speaker 1: the eastern darkness very fair i saw a little star
- 32:28Speaker 1: that twinkled bright how small it looked beside the mighty
- 32:33Speaker 1: pile whose stone was rosy with the western glow a
- 32:39Speaker 1: little star i pondered for a while and then the
- 32:44Speaker 1: solemn truth began to know that tiny star was some
- 32:49Speaker 1: enormous fear the great cathedral was anatomy. So often when
- 32:56Speaker 1: great trouble looms so near, that God shines in our minds,
- 33:01Speaker 1: but distantly. If we but thought our grief would seem
- 33:05Speaker 1: so small, that we would see that God's great love
- 33:09Speaker 1: was all. France, 1917. End of section 11. The Star
- 33:25Speaker 1: section twelve of the dawn patrol and other poems of
- 33:29Speaker 1: an aviator islington here slow decay with creeping finger peals
- 33:42Speaker 1: the yellow plaster from the grimy walls like leprous lichen
- 33:48Speaker 1: day by day which falls and day by day more
- 33:53Speaker 1: rotting stone reveals here are old mournful squares through which
- 33:59Speaker 1: there steals no cheerful music or the heedless calls of
- 34:04Speaker 1: laughing children and the smoke which crawls across the sky
- 34:09Speaker 1: the heavy silence seals Lean, blackened trees stretch up their
- 34:15Speaker 1: withered boughs behind the rusty railings, prison-bound. In vain they
- 34:21Speaker 1: seek the summer sunlight's gold in which their long-dead fathers
- 34:26Speaker 1: used to drowse. For pallid terraces lie far around in
- 34:32Speaker 1: gloomy sadness, ever growing old. Ochi-les-Bains, 1917 End of section 12. Islington.
- 34:52Speaker 1: Section 13 of The Dawn Patrol and Other Poems of
- 34:56Speaker 1: an Aviator by Paul Boucher. This LibriVox recording is in
- 35:01Speaker 1: the public domain. The Country Beautiful i love the little
- 35:08Speaker 1: daisies on the lawn which contemplate with wide and placid
- 35:12Speaker 1: eyes the blue and white enamel of the skies the
- 35:16Speaker 1: larks which sing their matin song at dawn high o'er
- 35:21Speaker 1: the earth and see the new day born all stained
- 35:25Speaker 1: with amethyst and amber dyes i love the shadowy woodlands
- 35:31Speaker 1: hidden prize of fragrant violets which the dewy morn doth
- 35:35Speaker 1: open gently underneath the trees to cast elusive perfume on
- 35:41Speaker 1: each hour the waving clover full of drowsy bees that
- 35:46Speaker 1: take their murmurous way from flower to flower who could
- 35:51Speaker 1: but think deep in some sun-flecked glade how God must
- 35:57Speaker 1: love these things that he has made. East Church, 1916.
- 36:06Speaker 1: End of section 13. The Country Beautiful. Section 14 of
- 36:17Speaker 1: The Dawn Patrol and Other Poems of an Aviator by
- 36:21Speaker 1: Paul Boucher this librivox recording is in the public domain
- 36:27Speaker 1: chelsea how many of those youths who consecrate their lives
- 36:32Speaker 1: to art and worship at her shrine and sacrifice their
- 36:37Speaker 1: early hours and late in serving her exacting whims divine
- 36:42Speaker 1: have gathered in old chelsea's shaded peace whose faint elusive
- 36:48Speaker 1: charm and gentle airs bring inspiration fresh and sweet release
- 36:54Speaker 1: from trouble's haunting shapes and goblin cares o tree embowered
- 37:00Speaker 1: hamlet whose domain sleeps in the arms of london quietly
- 37:05Speaker 1: whose sparrow-haunted roads and squares serene From all the stress
- 37:11Speaker 1: of life seem ever free. Oh, are you more than
- 37:16Speaker 1: just a passing dream Beside the city's slim and lovely stream?
- 37:22Speaker 1: Luc C. Lebin, 1917 End of section 14 Chelsea Section
- 37:25Speaker 1: 15 of the dawn patrol and other poems of an
- 37:42Speaker 1: aviator by paul boucher this librivox recording is in the
- 37:47Speaker 1: public domain k l h died of wounds received at
- 37:54Speaker 1: the dardanelles where stern gray busts of gods and heroes
- 38:00Speaker 1: old frown down upon the corridors chill stone on which
- 38:05Speaker 1: the sunbeam's amber pale is thrown from leaf-fringed windows one
- 38:11Speaker 1: of quiet mould gazed long at those white chronicles which
- 38:17Speaker 1: told of honours that the stately school had known he
- 38:22Speaker 1: read the names and wondered if his own would ever
- 38:26Speaker 1: grace the walls in letters bold he knew not that
- 38:31Speaker 1: he for the school would gain a greater honour with
- 38:35Speaker 1: a greater price That no long years of work, but
- 38:40Speaker 1: bitter pain, And his rich life he was to sacrifice,
- 38:45Speaker 1: Not in a university's grey peace, But on the hilly,
- 38:49Speaker 1: sun-baked Cursonese. H.M.S. Manica, Dardanelles, 1915. End of section 15. K.L.H.
- 39:09Speaker 1: Section 16 of The Dawn Patrol and Other Poems of
- 39:13Speaker 1: an Aviator by Paul Boucher. This LibriVox recording is in
- 39:18Speaker 1: the public domain. The Fringe of Heaven. Now have I
- 39:25Speaker 1: left the world and all its tears, and high above
- 39:30Speaker 1: the sunny cloud-banks fly, alone in all this vast and
- 39:35Speaker 1: lonely sky, this limpid space in which the myriad spheres
- 39:41Speaker 1: go thundering on, whose song God only hears high in
- 39:46Speaker 1: his heavens. Ah, how small seem i and yet i
- 39:51Speaker 1: know he hears my little cry down there among mankind's
- 39:57Speaker 1: cruel jest and sneers and i forget the grief which
- 40:02Speaker 1: i have known and i forgive the mockers and their
- 40:06Speaker 1: jest and in this mighty solitude alone i taste the
- 40:12Speaker 1: joys of everlasting rest which I shall know when I
- 40:17Speaker 1: have passed away to live in heaven's never-fading day. Written
- 40:24Speaker 1: in the air. End of section 16. The Fringe of Heaven.
- 40:37Speaker 1: Section 17 of The Dawn Patrol and Other Poems of
- 40:41Speaker 1: an Aviator by Paul Boucher This LibriVox recording is in
- 40:46Speaker 1: the public domain. Three Triolets. Colors. How bright is Earth's
- 40:54Speaker 1: rich gown! None but an airman knows. Yellow and green
- 40:59Speaker 1: and brown. How bright is Earth's rich gown! I see,
- 41:04Speaker 1: as I gaze down, It's purple, cream, and rose. How
- 41:09Speaker 1: bright is Earth's rich gown! none but an airman knows
- 41:16Speaker 1: the sea sad is the lonely sea so vast and
- 41:22Speaker 1: smooth and gray it stretches far from me sad is
- 41:28Speaker 1: the lonely sea its cheerful colors flee before the fading
- 41:34Speaker 1: day sad is the lonely sea so vast and smooth
- 41:41Speaker 1: and gray Dissolution. You mortals see the sky. I only
- 41:48Speaker 1: see the ground, as through the air I fly. You
- 41:53Speaker 1: mortals see the sky, and yet with envy sigh, because
- 41:58Speaker 1: to earth you're bound. You mortals see the sky. I
- 42:04Speaker 1: only see the ground. Written in the air. End of
- 42:12Speaker 1: section 17 Three Triolets. Section 18 of The Dawn Patrol
- 42:24Speaker 1: and Other Poems of an Aviator by Paul Boucher. This
- 42:29Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Cloud Thoughts Above
- 42:36Speaker 1: the clouds I sailed, above the clouds and wish my
- 42:40Speaker 1: mind above its clouds could climb as well and leave
- 42:45Speaker 1: behind the world and all its crowds and ever dwell
- 42:49Speaker 1: in such a calm and limpid solitude with ne'er a
- 42:54Speaker 1: breath unkind or harsh or rude to break the spell
- 43:00Speaker 1: with ne'er a thought to drive away the golden splendor
- 43:04Speaker 1: of the day Alone and lost beneath the tranquil blue.
- 43:10Speaker 1: My God, with you! Written in an aeroplane. End of
- 43:18Speaker 1: section 18. Cloud Thoughts. Section 19 of The Dawn Patrol
- 43:30Speaker 1: and Other Poems of an Aviator by Paul Boucher This
- 43:34Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Autumn Regrets That
- 43:42Speaker 1: I were Keats, and with a golden pen could for
- 43:45Speaker 1: all time preserve these golden days in rich and glowing verse,
- 43:50Speaker 1: for poorer men, who felt their wonder, but could only
- 43:54Speaker 1: gaze with silent joy upon sweet autumn's face, and not
- 43:58Speaker 1: record in any wise its grace. Alas! but i am
- 44:04Speaker 1: even dumb as they i cannot bid the fleeting hours
- 44:08Speaker 1: stay nor chain one moment on a page's space that
- 44:14Speaker 1: i were then with a haunting air of murmurs soft
- 44:19Speaker 1: and swelling grand refrains would i express my love of
- 44:23Speaker 1: autumn fair with all its wealth of harvest and warm
- 44:28Speaker 1: rains and with fantastic melodies inspire a memory of each
- 44:33Speaker 1: mad sunset's fire in which the day goes slowly to
- 44:37Speaker 1: its death as through the fragrant wood's dim evening's breath
- 44:42Speaker 1: doth soothe to sleep the drowsy song-bird's choir that i
- 44:47Speaker 1: were then september's gold would i store up in painted
- 44:53Speaker 1: treasuries that when the world seemed gray i could behold
- 44:57Speaker 1: its blazing color with sweet memories and each illusive color
- 45:02Speaker 1: would be mine that decorates these afternoons benign ah then
- 45:08Speaker 1: i could enshrine each fleeting hue which dyes the woodland
- 45:13Speaker 1: and enslave the blue of sky and haze with genius
- 45:17Speaker 1: divine how sad these wishes when i have no art
- 45:23Speaker 1: of poetry or music or of brush with which to
- 45:27Speaker 1: calm the swelling of my heart by capturing the misty
- 45:32Speaker 1: country's hush in muted violins i cannot hymn the shadowy
- 45:38Speaker 1: silence of the copses dim nor can i paint september's
- 45:43Speaker 1: sky-crowned hills gone then the wonder which my vision fills
- 45:50Speaker 1: when all the earth is bound by winter grim. Westgate.
- 45:58Speaker 1: End of section 19. Autumn Regrets. Section 20 of The
- 46:09Speaker 1: Dawn Patrol and Other Poems of an Aviator by Paul
- 46:13Speaker 1: Boucher to hilda on her seventeenth birthday now has rich
- 46:25Speaker 1: time brought you a gift of gold a long sweet
- 46:28Speaker 1: year which you can shape at will and deck with
- 46:32Speaker 1: roses warm or with the chill and heartless lilies god
- 46:37Speaker 1: gives strength to mould our days and lives with fingers
- 46:41Speaker 1: firm and bold and make them noble straight and clean
- 46:46Speaker 1: from ill though few are willing and their years they
- 46:50Speaker 1: fill with dross which they regret when they are old
- 46:55Speaker 1: what splendid hours of your life are these when youth
- 46:58Speaker 1: and childhood wander hand in hand and give you freely
- 47:02Speaker 1: all which best can please laughter and friends and dreams
- 47:07Speaker 1: of fairyland mourn not the seasons passed with useless tears
- 47:14Speaker 1: but greet the pleasure of the coming years france nineteen
- 47:20Speaker 1: seventeen and of section twenty to hilda on her seventeenth
- 47:27Speaker 1: birthday section twenty one of the dawn patrol and other
- 47:37Speaker 1: poems of an aviator by paul boucher clouds tis strange
- 47:49Speaker 1: to leave this world of woods and hills this world
- 47:53Speaker 1: of little farms and shady mills of fields and water-meadows
- 47:59Speaker 1: fair upon some sad and shadowy day when all the
- 48:03Speaker 1: skies are overcast and grey, and climb up through the
- 48:08Speaker 1: gloomy air, and ever hurry. higher still and higher till
- 48:14Speaker 1: underneath you lies a far-flung shire all sober hued beneath
- 48:19Speaker 1: the ceiling pale of crawling clouds whose barrier soon you
- 48:25Speaker 1: reach and through their clammy vapors swiftly sail their chill
- 48:31Speaker 1: defences hoping soon to breach to see no skies above
- 48:37Speaker 1: no ground below and in that nothingness tossed to and
- 48:41Speaker 1: fro is no sweet moment will it never cease climbing
- 48:48Speaker 1: and diving thrown from side to side all suddenly there
- 48:53Speaker 1: comes a sense of peace and o'er a wondrous scenery
- 48:57Speaker 1: we glide oh what a splendour deep the cloudless blue
- 49:02Speaker 1: whose sparkling azure has a gorgeous hue on earth you
- 49:07Speaker 1: know not flaming bright the sun which shines upon a
- 49:12Speaker 1: landscape snowy white with all its power of unsullied light
- 49:17Speaker 1: deep in the shadowy valleys do we run and then
- 49:21Speaker 1: above the towering summits soar and see for far-thrown miles
- 49:26Speaker 1: yet more and more great mountain ranges rolling white and
- 49:32Speaker 1: soft with shadowy passes cool and huge and dim where
- 49:37Speaker 1: surely angels wonder as they hymn their happy songs which
- 49:43Speaker 1: wing their way aloft to him who made the sun
- 49:47Speaker 1: the azure deep and all this gleaming land of peace
- 49:52Speaker 1: and sleep alone i wonder o'er this virgin land all
- 49:58Speaker 1: all for me below the ploughman plods along his furrows
- 50:04Speaker 1: and with restless hand the sower hurls his seed among
- 50:08Speaker 1: the clods they cannot see the sun gray is their
- 50:12Speaker 1: sky i see the sun the heavens blue on high
- 50:19Speaker 1: but i am human and must e'en descend i bid
- 50:23Speaker 1: farewell to all this lovely scene and plunge deep in
- 50:28Speaker 1: a cloud. When will it end, this hazy voyage? See,
- 50:34Speaker 1: the checkered green, the scattered farmsteads, and the quiet sea,
- 50:39Speaker 1: sunless and dim, come hurrying up to me. France, 1917.
- 50:45Speaker 1: End of section 21. Clouds. End of The Dawn Patrol
- 50:56Speaker 1: and Other Poems of an Aviator by Paul Boucher