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Fulda Gap Blues

Turtles on the sly, bandits in the sky, watching the missiles rise. Father cries and Mother sighs. The storm is coming and there's nowhere to hide. Little Sister has no shoes, but she has joy! Deprived of misery, she doesn't care anymore. She's at war. Steak and eggs, long tanned legs, only a dream away after the world is slain. Maybe God lied, but then He has a place to hide. The rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air give Little Sister a scare. Good-bye streets, good-bye human deceit. Man and God and the celestial cattle prod. Home of the brave, land of the free! After this final spending spree just be happy with a tree. The shade will be good even under Luke's crooked wood. Sortie #32, en route to the mission area somewhere over the Norwegian Sea Tuesday, June 19, 1984

Copyright © | Year Posted 2022




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Date: 6/23/2022 11:04:00 AM
A powerful write. Have a blessed day................
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Tugwell Avatar
Dick Tugwell
Date: 6/26/2022 3:34:00 PM
Hello, Paula. Certainly a poem of its time. I was Cold War combat crew flying missions against the Soviets. Panic over Reagan's installation of the Pershing missiles at RAF Greenham Common, especially the hippies surrounding the airbase. Paranoia in the popular culture over imminent nuclear war -- "99 Red Balloons" and all that. I knew otherwise serving in USAF intelligence. Nevertheless I penned the poem in keeping with zeitgeist. -- DT

Book: Shattered Sighs