Poems by Janet Collins – “Liberators” and “Burial at Ardennes”

Poems by Janet Collins – “Liberators” and “Burial at Ardennes”

Liberators
By Janet Collins

This sky of endless blue
Laced with cotton candy,
Poplars proudly lining roads –
Was I never here before?
I walk the runway’s bumpy mile,
I see the tower’s flashing lights,
This phantom vision calls to me,
Keep watch with me a little while
I hear the throbbing engines,
Feel their quaking bodies,
With straining wings outstretched,
They lift, climbing towards the sun.
Let me meet these gallant souls
Who man these mighty planes;
Let me know their fear, their pain
As comrades fly no more.
Today, the land is peaceful here,
Years of sadness tucked away,
Echoes of that other time when
Life and death met in the sky.
Voices wrapped in silence now
Live deep within our hearts
As memories reach beyond the years,
And we are one, and we are one.

Burial at Ardennes by Janet Collins

Behold the marble crosses,
Clean and white they stand
To mark their final rest
Of warriors far from home.
Robed in honor here they lie
Below this hallowed earth,
Battles fought, missions done,
They sleep in deserved peace.
My heart and soul reach out,
I salute them, everyone
While I pace the holy ground
In search of only one.
The plot, the range, the row,
The grave at last is found!
My fingers, trembling, touch the stone,
Trace the letters of his name.
I note the decades, five I count
As tears of all the years spill
Down my face in one
Profound awakening.
And at that moment we are one,
As time surrenders to the spirit.
A promise met, a vigil kept,
Life not ended, merely suspended.