<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="center" class="head">A Song of the Air</h1><p class="byline"> GORDON ALCHIN <br xmlns:exist="http://exist.sourceforge.net/NS/exist" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"/>From "Oxford and Flanders." B.H, Blackwell, Publishers, Oxford,England. Special permission to reproduce in this book.</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line">THIS is the song of the Plane--</p><p class="line">The creaking, shrieking plane, </p><p class="line">The throbbing, sobbing plane, </p><p class="line">And the moaning, groaning wires:--</p><p class="line">The engine--missing again! </p><p class="line">One cylinder never fires!</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:3%">Hey ho! for the Plane!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">This is the song of the Man--</p><p class="line">The driving, striving man, </p><p class="line">The chosen, frozen man:</p><p class="line">The pilot, the man-at-the-wheel, </p><p class="line">Whose limit is all that he can, </p><p class="line">And beyond, if the need is real!</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:3%">Hey ho! for the Man!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">This is the song of the Gun--</p><p class="line">The muttering, stuttering gun, </p><p class="line">The maddening, gladdening gun:-- </p><p class="line">That chuckles with evil glee </p><p class="line">At the last, long drive of the Hun, </p><p class="line">With its end in eternity!</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:3%">Hey ho! for the Gun!</p></div><div class="stanza"><p class="line">This is the song of the Air</p><p class="line">The lifting, drifting air, </p><p class="line">The eddying, steadying air, </p><p class="line">The wine of its limitless space:--</p><p class="line">May it nerve us at last to dare </p><p class="line">Even on death with undaunted face! </p><p class="line" style="text-indent:3%">Hey ho! for the Air! </p></div></body></html> · Great War