The Night Raid

Around me broods the dim, mysterious Night,
    Star-lit and still.
No whisper comes across the Plain,
Asleep beneath the breezes light,
Which scarcely stir the growing grain.
Slow chimes the quiet midnight hour
In some unseen and distant tower,
While round me broods the vague, mysterious Night,
    Star-lit, and cool, and still.

And I must desecrate this silent time
    Of drowsy dreams!
On mighty wings towards the sky,
Towards the stars, I have to climb
And o'er the sleeping country fly,
And such far-echoing clamour make
That all the villages must wake.
So must I desecrate this quiet time
    Of soft and drowsy dreams!

The hour comes ... soon must I say farewell
    To this fair earth.
Then to my little room I go
Where I perhaps no more shall dwell.
Shall I return? - The Gods but know.
Perchance again I shall not sleep
On that white bed in silence deep.
For soon the hour comes to say farewell
    To this fair, friendly earth.

I stand there long, before into the gloom
    I take my way.
There are the pictures of my friends
And all the treasures of my room
On which my lamp soft radiance sends.
And long with lingering gaze I look
Upon each much belovèd book.
I stand, and dream - before into the gloom
    I sadly take my way.

And now I gain the field whence I must part
    Upon my quest.
My Pegasus of wood and steel
Is ready straining at the start.
The governor is at the wheel -
And, with an ever-growing roar,
Across the hidden fields we soar.
So, with one envious look from Earth I part
    Upon my midnight quest.

Beneath me lies the sleeping countryside
    Hazy and dim,
And here and there a little gleam,
Like stars upon the heavens wide,
Speaks of some wretch who cannot dream -
But on his bed all night must toss
And hear me as I pass across,
In droning flight above the countryside,
    Hazy, and huge, and dim.

And in the great blue night I ever rise
    Towards the stars,
As to the hostile lands I sail
High in the dark and cloudless skies
Whose gloom our gloomy wings doth veil.
Beneath, a scarce-seen ribbon shows
Where through the woods a river flows,
As in the shadowy night I ever rise
    Towards the scattered stars.

Now high above War's frontiers do I sit -
    Above the lines.
Great lights, like flowers, rise and fall:
On either side red flashes spit
Hot death at those poor souls which crawl
On secret errands. O, how grim
Must be that midnight slaughter dim!
And happy am I that so high I sit
    Above those cruel lines!

Each man beneath me now detests my race
    With iron hate.
Each tiny light I see must shine
Upon some grim, unfriendly face,
Who curses England's name and mine,
And would be glad if both were gone -
But steadily must I fly on,
Though every soul beneath me loathes my race
    With stern, unceasing hate.

I see a far-flung City all ablaze
    With jewelled lamps:
I trace its quays, its roads, its squares,
And all its intermingled ways,
And, as I wonder how it dares
To flaunt itself, - the City dies,
And in an utter darkness lies,
For I have terrified that town ablaze
    With twinkling, jewelled lamps.

But, see! - the furnace with its ruddy breath
    Which I must wreck!
The searchlights sweep across the sky -
Long-fingered ministers of Death -
I look deep in their cold blue eye,
Incessant shells with blinding light
Show every wire, clear and white!
There is the furnace with its ruddy breath
    Which I must wreck; -

It lies beneath - my time has come at last
    To do my work!
I wait - O! will you never stop
Your fearful shells, that burst so fast? -
And then - I hear destruction drop
Behind my back as I release
Such fearful death with such great ease.
Burst on, you shells! My time has come at last
    To do my deadly work.

Then do I turn, and hurry swiftly back
    Towards my home.
I gladly leave that place behind!
No more I hear the shrapnel's crack -
No more my eyes the searchlights blind.
I cross the lines with lightening breast
And sail into the friendly West.
How glad am I to hurry swiftly back
    Towards my peaceful home!

I reach the field - and then I softly land.
    My work is o'er!
I leave my hot and panting steed,
And clasp a comrade's outstretched hand,
And with him to my bedroom speed.
Then, over steaming beakers set,
The night's fierce menace soon forget.
How great a welcome waits me when I land -
    When all my work is o'er!

But ere I search shy sleep on my white bed
    I greet the dawn,
And think, with heart weighed down with grief,
How cruel this dawn to those whose dead
Lie shattered, torn - whom, like a thief
At darkest midnight, I have slain.
Poor, unknown victims! - real my pain!
What widows, orphans, sweethearts see their dead
    This cruel, hopeless dawn?

France, 1917.