High in the clouds

High in the clouds,
In the cramped hell hole they expect us to fight in.
There is the terrible thump of the mechanical heart,
Every pound of the machine seems louder.

Out of the grubby windows I see nothing,
Nothing but the dark expanse in all directions,
Swirling clouds of fog make the job much harder,
Harder than it already is.

I have my hands on the controls,
Using all the strength I can muster.
To keep the plane in the sky,
There is a loud clang as the lever sticks in position.

The controls are stiff,
The aeroplane is slow,
And it doesn’t handle well.
flying low ,like a sitting duck.

Bang,
The sudden explosions of shells all around.
A bright search light singles me out in the black abyss,
There are screams of bullets narrowly missing the cockpit.

Reaching for the lever,
I start to have second thoughts.
But I must over come them.
I pull the lever.
The deed is done.

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