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The Fighter Pilot.

 

Destiny chose me to fly the sky, since conception in the womb,
While nurtured by my mother’s breast, I had a duty to assume.
For I have flown past heaven’s door, to places you’ve not seen,
constantly lived my boyhood dreams, in the places I have been.
I’ve flown the depths of darkness, by the light from stars alone,
I am utterly spellbound by that world, the World I call my own.

 

I regularly soared and gaily danced, on a towering thunder head,
swooped and zoomed and flown, just like an arrow I have sped.
I love flying those boundless skies, where bold eagles soar alone,
that place where a special few, can boast that they have flown.
Up in that peaceful remote world, far from the annoying crowds,
honing deadly fighting skills, between stars and peaceful clouds.

 

My destiny has now come of age, and it’s time I forged my mark,
to fight the immoral evil foe, though impending days look stark. 
The looming war clouds overhead, made me answer to the call,
to face the vicious wicked ones, with our backs against the wall.
I will fight for our harassed Country, and stem the vicious horde,
for the moment is now upon us, that future history will record.

 

Unswerving and strong-minded, gilded wings are shining bright,
we charge impatiently into battle, unafraid of the coming fight.
Like twin edged swords we fly, through fire and blinding smoke,
resolute, committed and relentless, defiant with every stroke.
My agile craft pulls eager and hard, and into battle we commit,
many countless horses strain as one, on a thundering single bit.

 

The battle’s now a rampant rage, but I approach serene within,
raw excitement inundates my mind, and my body limb to limb.
Ignoring thoughts of hasty death, the enemy’s fear we’ll invoke,
until he drops or scurries for home, dismayed with spirit broke.
But if I’m not here at battle’s end, and I don’t return to home,
I’ll be flying through these azure skies, eternally free to roam.

 

 

.

Author notes

Originall inspired by Battle of Britain pilots but changed to include all pilots for the ideals are the same.
Written May 1st, 2006 by Bazza
Personification of a lifetime wish to be able to fly and have a pilot's licence.

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Comments

1 - 56 of 56

  • Rhythm Child
    November 25, 2008

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    A great entry
    thanks for taking part, wishing you luck would be an insult to your talent so take care

    message me for anything
    Billy (Rhythm Child)


    • Bazza
      December 8, 2008
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      Thanks for the comments and bronze and congratulations to the other price winners . There were some great entries in this contest which was well run and fun to participate in.


  • Princess Perdue gold member
    October 14, 2007

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    Congratulations Bazza on your well deserved trophy. A fine entry indeed and written with true passion. Well done with this wonderful work.

    Shaz xx


  • passim silver member
    October 14, 2007

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    I feel that you have really taken your reader flying high with this one. Well done. Thank you for entering.


  • DarkSunRises
    July 22, 2007

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    A very inspired poem... but not a personification. Personification is the act of representing abstract ideas or emotions as living breathing things. This poem is incredible, but not what I would have expected for a poem about personification.

    I encourage you to re-submit another poem more fitting to the option you have chosen. If you have any questions, please let me know, I'd be happy to help in any way I can.

    Good luck, and thanks for the entry.

    - DarkSun


  • TheDevilInYourHead
    July 19, 2007

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    wow, very very well done. I love how you start by saying how you were destined to fly before you were even born. This was a bit long but wonderfully written. Great job and thanks for entering in my contest.


  • BringintheSunshine
    July 1, 2007
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    Long, but Beautiful

    Have you ever considered writing a novel... or becoming a journalist? You seem to have a knack(sp? lol)for vivid description and strong words... It's almost too much for a poem. But it's very beautifully written! I love your description of one's journey through life...soaring through the skies, unfeigned by human noise. good job!
    -chelsea


  • Poetic Rage
    May 29, 2007

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    The Flight from the Womb

    I like this one amazing.....It takes you from childhood to when he came of age ready to fight right from the womb......


    Great Write....


  • Elfin
    May 25, 2007

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    Bravo

    Bazza, this as got to be my favourite piece from you. A remarkable poem. Well done and the best of luck in the contest. Val

  • David Berry
    April 23, 2007
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    sets a great mood. my colleague is right, its utterly gripping. the rythm is good and the small variances seem very conscious to create your world. Though i mostly agree with his comment, I do disagree with one statement. Your lines were not prolix. They flowed nicely. Well done.


  • Max Ritvo
    April 22, 2007

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    This is harrowing. This tells a harrowing story- and the content is gripping. The presentation and execution of this story aren't quite on the same level as the idea and content. The piece is bulky- very bulky to be about something like flight, it seems like you lose track of the rhyme and beat by the time you reach teh end of the line. Some of the rhymes are weak, "home, roam" is far too tryte to have as the ending, which should really be the integral part of the piece. You have moments where I think your form is on par with your tribute-

    Regularly soared and gaily danced, on a towering thunder head,
    Swooped and zoomed and flown, just like an arrow I have sped.

    That is certainly a harrowing and beautiful crafted image.

    The twin edged swords is a pretty piece of imagery that particularly stuck out at me as well.

    Best of luck.


  • Lady-Pegasus
    April 2, 2007
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    Thank you for your contest submission, I do need to ask you review the rules and edit your submission appropriately. Please IM me and let me know this has been done, thank you.
    A nice piece of prose, although still a bit unwieldy even for prose, to me at least. Best of luck in this and all of your endeavors. Hetohke'e *

  • Bazza
    June 28, 2006
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    azure85 Thanks mate for reading and commenting on my work.


  • azure85 gold member
    June 28, 2006
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    A great poem about our fighting pilots! A loving tribute to these brave men! I really liked your ending:

    "But if I’m not here at battle’s end, and I don’t return to home,
    I’ll be flying through these azure skies, eternally free to roam."

    Good luck in the contest!


  • Bazza
    June 28, 2006
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    TJCasser Thank you for your comment and taking the time to comment. Thanks mate glad you enjoyed it.


  • TJCasser
    June 28, 2006
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    A lovely tribute, truly told. Thank you for sharing it - and best of luck with the contest.


  • a sweetheart lost
    June 22, 2006
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    Nice write! It makes me feel like you are giving words to why they do what they do. Some people don't understand why anyone would want to do such a job. At the end there is an peaceful content feeling. I enjoyed reading this.


  • Bazza
    April 27, 2006
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    Legend, thank you for such a great comment and the honour of your applause. I tried to write something inspiring and it is difficult to raise one's emotions to the pitch required and so it is a good feeling while there but takes a while to come down again. I am surpriesd you don't have a favourite so I will just keep reading through as time permits.I love your work.
    Barry


  • Legend silver member
    April 27, 2006
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    I can well see why this is one of your favorites There is so much raw emotion in it To pit one wits and talent against another such minded and worthy opponent has to be what man is all about.I think it something we can not deny even if we want
    Many years ago I was given the opportunity to pilot a single engine aircraft.I can well understand the exhilaration of a fighter pilot when it is for real.I doubt there is time to feel fear , until it is all over. Great work my friend.

    I have no favorites of my own. It is always the next one and the excitement of not knowing how it will turn out

  • Sunshinegf
    March 19, 2006
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    GREAT EROTIC PIECE I SAY IT IS GOOD

  • Vera Rich gold member
    March 15, 2006
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    Thank you for entering this competition. This poem certainly focuses on the theme of the competition - and although, of course, Shevchenko lived in an age when flying was only possible in dreams (as, indeed, in his apocalyptic poem "The Dream - a Comedy", he does "over-fly" Ukraine, Siberia and St Petersburg"), I feel that this would have appealed to him, as you stress that the pilot is fighting against "evil". As he wrote in "The Caucasus":

    "Battle on - and win your battle,
    God Himself with aid you;
    At your side fight truth and glory,
    Right, and holy freedom".

    I shall be in touch later about final awarding of points etc.

  • Vera Rich gold member
    March 11, 2006
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    The "borytes-poboryte" competition is now closed, and I am preparing to judge it...

    This is to remind you that - if you have adhered to the "no-peeking recommendation of this competition (by not critiquing anyone else's entries until it closed) AND before 6.00 am London time on Tuesday 14 March, you read and comment on at least three other entries, these comments will be considered for further points. But please note that to be considered for extra points, the comments must be apposite and meaningful... and you must comment on at least three poems and of these three comments two must consist of 25 words or more - and the third of 50 words or more. Micro-comments of the form "Wow! An awesome read@ will not count in this respect


  • Bazza
    March 5, 2006
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    Thank you so much Ellis, I know the feeling and I owe a lot to you for promoting my work and cant thank you enough.


  • Ellis gold member
    March 5, 2006
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    Outstanding

    This is GREAT, Barry. I believe one of your best, but they are all so good -- because you have the highest standards. --Ellis
    (I'd "chat" with you more, but I got so much to do to keep up.)


  • Bazza
    March 4, 2006
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    Thank you Jan. Well I am off to Surfer's paradise for a Jewellery fair. have a nice day love.


  • angelica silver member
    March 4, 2006
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    Dear Barry, I love it my friend, the words just flow so smoothly now. You have created a beautiful poem for all the pilots who soar through the sky, how free they must feel so high up in the sky. Well done my friend.

    Hugs Joan

  • Bazza
    March 4, 2006
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    Thank you Sweety. Here's a big hug oooooo !!

  • Ir.muse
    March 4, 2006
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    wow..wow...wow..I haven't read the previous version,but this one is really wonderful.I told you always that you're a wonderful poet. see,I was quite right.
    I love the last line:
    "I’ll be flying through these azure skies, eternally free to roam."
    Your Princess



  • Bazza
    February 26, 2006
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    Because of my other hobbies it is necesary for me to now ration my time and so decided to specialise in my picture poems only. I hope to start painting again this week and I have a beautiful tourmaline and diamond ring to finish.


  • Bazza
    February 26, 2006
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    Thank you Lyndon for your wonderful comment. I take it as a gret priviledge for you to comment and enjoy my poem. My email is bazthompson@bigpond.com Thankyou.


  • Mairi bheag gold member
    February 26, 2006
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    No offence taken at all, Bazza. Poems do not have to be anything - your "picture poem" idea works, and just because your doubled-up adjectives hit me like a lead boot that is no reason for you to stop using them. I disagree about short poems, because I love precise things like haiku. Let's face it, when it comes to poems, I like anything between haiku and Paradise Lost. None of my comments were meant to discourage or disparage you - after all I have been writing poetry myself for a far shorter period than you have.
    Edited on Feb 26, 7:28 because '"I carnt spel"'.


  • Lyndon gold member
    February 26, 2006
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    A wonderful read

    Strong rhyme, strong rhythm and strong diction give this poem its peresonal and patriotic fervour. It is not a 'story' as someone advanced but a celebration of service and the freedom of flight reined in by your "being committed and strong minded". Vera Rich referred to a famous C20 powem b y Yeats. Here is the poem:


    I KNOW that I shall meet my fate
    Somewhere among the clouds above;
    Those that I fight I do not hate
    Those that I guard I do not love;
    My country is Kiltartan Cross, 5
    My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
    No likely end could bring them loss
    Or leave them happier than before.
    Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
    Nor public man, nor cheering crowds, 10
    A lonely impulse of delight
    Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
    I balanced all, brought all to mind,
    The years to come seemed waste of breath,
    A waste of breath the years behind 15

    Your own poem is a gem. Do not waste it. Use it. Send me your email by IM and I shall send you an entry form for a contest you just might enter. Lyndon.
    In balance with this life, this death.


  • Bazza
    February 26, 2006
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    Thank you for the comment. It was an experiment to write something inspirational and I know it still needs some fine tuning, but I try to build a melody into a poem and so often use extra words to achieve this. I dont agree that poetry should be a minimum of words. I agree though that "these" may be extraneous, and will probably remove it when I next edit it.


  • Bazza
    February 26, 2006
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    I wonder why people think poems should be a few lines or nondescript words like free verse that does little for the imagination. How do such people ever read a book ?? do they stop exhausted after "ploughing" through the first paragraph ?. The doubled up synonyms are done on purpose to give some 'melody' to the poem. I write Rhyming free verse that is mostly metered and use words to paint a picture so that all the reader has to do is read... not try to interpret what the poet is attempting to say. I call these "picture poems' and they are becoming increasingly popular because of it. My intention is to provide a picture in the reader's mind a close as possible to that which was in mine so that many can share in the experience. Free verse is too antiseptick and the act of trying to make a poem out of the fewest words possible is contrary to the real definition of the word poetry itself. I recently saw a one word "poem" .....
    I wish to thank you for the detailed comment and hope that my explanation regarding my preferred style does not offend you. I agree there is some more fine tuning necessary but I have only been writing for a few years and am still a tiaro, and that is the only reason I endure this site.. and that is to learn.. Thanks again.


  • JazzALTernative silver member
    February 26, 2006
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    I like the way the poem builds into an actual adventure. Things really take off with the line: And countless horses strain as one, on a thunderous single bit - great line. Interesting approach - combining long lines with rhyme. I think the word "these" in the last line is unnecessary. Thanks for the note at the end of the poem.


  • February 26, 2006
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    this is a great piece of descriptive ppoetry. A beautiful popem, beautifully written


  • doughjoe silver member
    February 26, 2006
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    like this piece too, I had to read up on you and will be adding you to the favorite list great writes.. thank you for sharing your words this morning.


  • cherche -d -ame
    February 26, 2006
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    I understand that this is about "fighter-pilots" . I also understand the allure of flying and the concept of the feeling it brings. My only problem lies in equating the both,i.e fighter-pilots vs roaming the azure skies. I would imagine that most of them did not have the fortune to feel the freedom of that , as they were either under attack or attacking. Now to the "flying and roaming azure skies. My father was an avid glider-pilot and I spent many hours growing up pursuing his hobby with them. I was able to solo at the age of 16 in a glider oh-what a feeling that I will forever remember....as well as at a later date accompanying a friend who had just gotten his Cessna-license . And those I will do anytime again-and leave the fighter-jets to those with nerves of steel . And I want to thank you for the memories you evoked with this flight*
    reenie


  • Mairi bheag gold member
    February 26, 2006
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    Wow. I have to say this, I am rather out of breath after ploughing through line after line of sixteen-syllables. That is rather a big demand to put on readers. To sustain it you have sometimes doubled up on synonyms such as "vicuous wicked", which tend to lend the poem a heavy tread. In the end, you have produced something which is probably the exact oposite of John Pudney's "For Johnny" (check it out here: www.poetry-online.org/pudnam_for_johnny.htm - it isn't the world's most glorious poetry, but it is simple, effective, and touches the emotions). Overall verdict: workmanlike and readable, and an expression of your true admiration for the men about whom you write.


  • BlueSunflower
    February 15, 2006
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    such a well crafted story.. I liked the feeling of freedom and pride evoked in this and all the stanzas are written with inner peace, it shows from the beauty they express..
    Very well done!
    HBH

  • Thedragonisgone
    February 3, 2006
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    You are so right... I did enjoy this immensely. Are you constantly thinking in rhyme or has it just become a habit? The vividness of this gave me a glimpse of what it might've been like. Thanks for guiding me here.


  • masterblaster gold member
    February 2, 2006
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    Hi, am becoming a fan of your stories, you have the same problem I have, watch your grammar,lol, enjoyed this write and you capture good feel. all the best, hugs Di

  • Vera Rich gold member
    February 2, 2006
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    Splendid to see someone who understands the allure of flying. Do you know W.B.Yeats' "An Irish airman foresees his death"..I have no time to critique this at the moment,,, But will try to get back to it if I can,,.. and if I remember... (and if I do not do so over the next few days - please remind me!)


  • February 2, 2006
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    very descriptive

  • Bazza
    January 31, 2006
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    Thank you Ellis, I appreciate your praise.


  • Ellis gold member
    January 30, 2006
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    Outstanding

    This reminds me of some of Lord Byran's poetry. Wonderful writing! This is REAL POETRY. This one is outstanding. --Ellis

  • Babyblonde
    January 25, 2006
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    This was fantastic writing. The quality shown here, is better then most i have read! You have a beautiful way with words, and i could see an insight to a heroes mind. You are really talented. Congrats on a perfect write, good luck and thanks for entering my contest.

    ***Sarah xxx

  • Ir.muse
    January 17, 2006
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    I enjoyed reading this a lot dear dad. Don't worry for me,I'm not that young not to understand these things.
    My best wishes for you.
    Shahrzad

  • Bazza
    January 15, 2006
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    Thank you for the comment and I am glad it has stirred your emotions.


  • isisspirit
    January 15, 2006
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    wow, i love the line, Like twin edged swords we fly, that is brilliant,m i am in the cadets so i can really respect this, good luck in the contest, and thanks so much for sharing.


  • Janice M Pickett
    January 5, 2006
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    Everything above has alread been said about this poem.
    I usually don't read long poems but yours are most readable.


    Jan


  • angelica silver member
    January 5, 2006
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    Dear Barry, This is wonderful, you really kept me enthralled throuout, it must be amazing to be able to soar through the sky. I love flying, I enjoyed my trip over the Tasman Sea to visit Christchurch in New Zealand. It's wonderful that you've written it for all pilots. Well done Barry.
    Hugs Joan
    I'll be back tomorrow to read some more.


  • misticmoonlite gold member
    December 27, 2005
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    great job on this one, thank you for entering and good luck in the contest, ..Linda


  • TheThinker
    December 26, 2005
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    Brilliant

    Awesome.. I am terrified of flying, a control freak is one of the reaons suggested to me!
    But somehow you make it seem Beautiful, challenging and natural.
    Very talented guy.. keep up the great work.. am so glad I was pointed at your work x


  • WelshDragon
    December 23, 2005
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    I'm just glad that I never read your poems when I first considered joining, because if I thought that this was the quality I was to expect, I would never have joined at all. This is simply one of the best poems I have ever read. Truly professional. Frighteneing how good some people are. I'll just stick to my nonsense and not attempt to compete ......


  • Ritter Von Gott
    December 23, 2005
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    brozo

    great i love it
    it flows so well and the topic is vary diffrent but you stick to it the whole way through

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