CHILD'S PLAY IN THE SHADOW OF THE SUN
VII
Dance Macabre
(Remembering a childhood witness of a dogfight late in World War II)
Like silver birds
dancing through
unbroken blue
They seemed mere toys,
The tiny two,
Glinting, sweeping
Flashing, diving
White in flight
Then swallowed from view
Then seen again
With a sudden flare
Climbing
Soaring
Higher
Higher…
Slowing
Turning
One after the other
In a graceful arc
Back to me
For a moment
Before
curling
left
right
Sweeping on
In a paired pattern
A twinned design
Bound
By a fabulous bond
And I marveled at their display
Higher, brighter, more sustained
Than even birds might fly
‘Till a plume of smoke
Stretched into a leaden trail
As one broke from the dance
Turned to the earth
And fell.
VII
Dance Macabre
(Remembering a childhood witness of a dogfight late in World War II)
Like silver birds
dancing through
unbroken blue
They seemed mere toys,
The tiny two,
Glinting, sweeping
Flashing, diving
White in flight
Then swallowed from view
Then seen again
With a sudden flare
Climbing
Soaring
Higher
Higher…
Slowing
Turning
One after the other
In a graceful arc
Back to me
For a moment
Before
curling
left
right
Sweeping on
In a paired pattern
A twinned design
Bound
By a fabulous bond
And I marveled at their display
Higher, brighter, more sustained
Than even birds might fly
‘Till a plume of smoke
Stretched into a leaden trail
As one broke from the dance
Turned to the earth
And fell.