My Generation 39/45

Out of the nightmare came a dream,

Out of the night, the dawn,

A thousand bombers overhead

The night that I was born…

The world was filled with glistening eyes

And broken up with sorrow…

I heard the bombers overhead

And in the dream, the bombers said

‘We’re over here to strike you dead

Or turn your head, tomorrow.’

 

Always I heard the bombers’ words

Echoing through my mind,

They still return, although the journey

Left them far behind.

The world gave out a terrible groan

To see the saddest day…

I heard them say: ‘It must be so

The babes reap what the parents sow,

They’ll tread where we would fear to go

But never know the way.’

 

The stars of war were stars of mine

The day that I was born,

You wonder why we’re so disturbed,

It’s written in the dawn.

The world was sat with a bleeding head

And broken up with sorrow…

   I know the ragged mile we’ve led

   Is based upon the drone that said:

   ‘We’re over here to strike you dead

   Or turn your head, tomorrow.’

 

David Lewis Paget