ODE TO AIR

Hutt News, Volume 18, Issue 1, 7 June 1944, Page 4

ODE TO AIR

Air! ' | You iv everywhere Hej;e ami there Fresh air, warm ait", Still air. chili ail'. You enfold Ihe earth Till now I'rom birth Little did you think When on Hie brink or lil'e terrestrial (Maybe celestial ) Thai you would be Feared by me And millions more In this world war. Without you, Air. invisible and vital Tin re'd be no life and that, despite a Fads and strange hypotheses And silly I lungs thai Science pleases. Yet what you are l'p in I lie blue Or now a. gale Filling a sail. I remember in my chemistry, (Which many times would worry me) That you're a mixture, not a compound." To youthful ears this phrase would sound 1 Impressive, but not meaning much — Oh, air we feel and cannot clutch. We took a jar An empty one, And lit a light It was such fun! The light went out, The water rose ' About one-fifth * (1 must suppose) We then were told That oxygen Had fed the light As it feeds men; And nitrogen performs its part By giving plants in life their start, Air, water, earth, and fire The elements four that conspire To symbolize This horrid war Jn nineteen hundred and II And terrorize Whole races and vast continents, And harmless folk to all intents. And of the four YOTT are the worst You have been cursed By Poles and Dutch and even Huns Who fouled your space to shoot their guns. Air! You are the lair : Of winged lil'e .In peace or strife Of gorgeous clouds that, brush the sky And flocks of birds that flutter by Air! The lethal lair Of hordes of planes that fight up there; The despair Of those who would not, could not. properly prepare. Air! Free you must be! Not. feared- by me And those who love true liberty. —-Flying Officer M. P. Byrne? (Otag.-