Youth In The Skies

These who were children yesterday Now move in lovely flight, Swift-glancing as the shooting stars That cleave the summer night; A moment flashed, they came and went, Horizons rise and fall, The speed of valour lifts them up And strength obeys their call. The downs below are breathing peace With thyme and butterflies, And sheep at pasture in the shade- And now from English skies These who were children yesterday Look down with other eyes; Man’s desperate folly was not theirs But theirs the sacrifice. Old men may wage a war of words, Another race are these, Who flash to glory dawn and night Above the starry seas.