Joseph Anderson - Before The Next Bombs Fall

Written sometime in 1944, when I was a 19 plus year
old member of the U.S.Air Force and troubled by the
tragedies of war.

I hear the song of driven winds
Against the barrack walls;
The sounds a memory to me sends,
Of angry barroom brawls.

We boys are in a great unease,
But speak of usual things,
Of women, alcoholic sprees
And what the morrow brings.

Come morn we are over Dover,
In flight to Germany
And when this war is over
Perhaps, Europe may be free.

Death and destruction lie ahead,
Dropped from where eagles fly;
For all the guiltless ones, soon dead
We cry, dear Lord, we cry.

A happy life amid the sky,
Where many dangers loom;
We pray the tides of war deny
Our flight from instant doom.

A happy life amid the sky,
My God, where did I find this lie?

Can we ever repay the people of England
For their determined resistance to the
Nazi's aggression?

Joseph Anderson

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