warbirds

*
*
*
warbirds

i knew the sound of them
before i saw them

the drone of their rolls-royce
v-12 engines

reaching me on earth some,
what, 15- to 20-thousand

feet below
as they climbed,

were climbing still,
the two of them,

in close formation,
just as my father

might have seen them
from his

aircraft spotter's post
on a

london rooftop
the day that i was born

80 years
ago...

LPK
Dw/LJ
7.20.2024