The Captain Stands Tall

Cherry

By Ewan

Fri, 05 May 2017
  • 907 reads
4 comments
 

RAF Akrotiri, 1990-something

 

Our aircraft is banished to a far dispersal,

the take-off aborted, a crash rehearsal.

Cigarettes glow in the high bondu,

the regular drunks they bend and spew.

The Captain, brave captain,

still he stands tall,

as if our landing

was nothing at all.

 

No fires, no dramas, no smoke from the brakes,

post-landing checks are all that it takes:

Thunder-heads stain the evening sky,

the orders remain, crew-in and fly.

The Captain, brave captain,

he never will fall,

though none will believe him,

his courage is small.

 

Flight-plans refiled, we contact the tower

we clamber aboard, establish ground power.

The engineer switches fuel pumps on

the chance for a stand-down, finally gone.

The Captain, brave captain,

he answers the call,

is it for something,

or nothing at all?

Certificate U
Poem
Miscellaneous

Comments

Submitted by celticman on

Needs to be Tom Hanks as the brave captain. 

 

Submitted by Ewan on

I'd prefer Neil Dudgeon in Piece of Cake...

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

My illiteracy is probably preventing me from spotting something, but achieving powerful poetic using technical / aeronautical terms? I take my flying helmet off. Great meter. What is it?

Favourite line: "The engineer switches fuel pumps on"

Bravo Romeo India Lima Lima
Clear for take-off.

Parson Thru

Submitted by Ewan on

a bastard pentameter. (That is, it should be iambic pentameter, but isn't quite). It is no poetry form that a I know of, but it looks ok on the page.

Thanks for reading!

Ewan

Author Page at the 'Zon