Harrier

Dark Angel

It sat there, an eagle of flame,
purring deeply, softly as it waited.
Dark and brooding, angel of death,
wings of doom, blackly painted.

We saddled up on its broad back,
our grumbling steed beneath us.
Fastened the straps, put on our helms,
preparing for the dragon to bear us.

She leapt, her tongue of fire licking out,
behind us, a blue gout of flame.
Forward we zoomed, like lightning,
knowing naught of goal, destination, aim.

Then up, up we soared, ‘til the world,
was a twinkling jewel below.
Hills and mountains, mere lumps and mounds,
clouds zipping past, anything but slow.

We swooped, we looped, we climbed and dove,
we travelled at speeds like I’ve never known.
So fast a thing, so alien so strange,
yet within this beast I was at home.

Then in a moment it was over,
a voyage of miles passed by in a moment.
We returned to the ground and alit the beast,
she lay unattended, quiet and dormant.

Guy Stimpson, 6th March 2007