A Leaf from a Log Book

Dropping down through tired skies;
The wires sighing above the propeller-whispers;
The cooling wind pouring over the windshield glass;
Our ships are dropping into the valley
Over the gleaming tile of scattered roof-tops
And abbey spires.

A moon, already far beyond the last retreat of day,
Is rising in its bloom.
We are sleek carnivorous birds
Whistling down to a haven among the hills,
Our bodies gorged with the blood of legions.

— H. Babcock

"A Leaf from a Log Book," originally appeared in Spanish Wings by H. Babcock, copyright © 1935.

Home page image: "Wegbereiter Ikarus," print, woodblock on paper, by Wilhelm Geissler, 1966. (Courtesy NASM)