"Old Airfield" - a poem

"Old Airfield"

(adapted from the poem "Old Airfield" by W. Scott)

I lie here, still, upon the hill,

Abandoned long to nature's will,

My buildings down, my people gone.

My only sounds, the wild birds' song.

But my mighty birds will rise no more,

No more I hear the Merlins roar,

And never now my bosom feels.

The pounding of their giant wheels.

From the ageless hill their voices cast,

Thunderous echoes of the past,

And still in lonely reverie,

Their great dark wings sweep down to me

Laughter, sorrow, hope and pain,

I shall never know these things again,

Emotions that I came to know,

Of strange young men so long ago.

Who knows as evening shadows meet,

Are they with me still, a phantom fleet,

And do my ghosts still stride unseen,

Across my face so wide and green.

And in the future, should structures tall,

Bury me beyond recall,

I shall still remember them,

My metal birds and long dead men.

Now weeds grow high, obscure the sky,

O remember me, when you pass by,

For beneath the tangled, leafy screen,

I was your home, your friend, "PEEK-FREAN".

"PEEK-FREAN" was the radio call-sign for Royal Air Force, Kelstern.