Lie in the Dark and Listen

LIE in the dark and listen.
It’s clear tonight, so they’re flying high,
Hundreds of them, thousands perhaps,
Riding the icy, moonlit sky,
Men, machinery, bombs, and maps,
Altimeters and guns and charts,
Coffee, sandwiches, fleece-lined boots,
Bones and muscles and minds and hearts,
English saplings with English roots
Deep in the earth they’ve left below.
Lie in the dark and let them go;
Lie in the dark and listen.

Lie in the dark and listen.
They’re going over in waves and waves
High above villages, hills, and streams,
Country churches and little graves
And little citizens’ worried dreams;
Very soon they’ll have reached the sea
And far below them will lie the bays
And cliffs and sands where they used to be
Taken for summer holidays.
Lie in the dark and let them go;
Theirs is a world we’ll never know.
Lie in the dark and listen.

Lie in the dark and listen.
City magnates and steel contractors,
Factory workers and politicians,
Soft hysterical little actors,
Ballet dancers, reserved musicians,
Safe in your warm civilian beds,
Count your profits and count your sheep
Life is passing above your heads,
Just turn over and try to sleep.
Lie in the dark and let them go;
There’s one debt you’ll forever owe.
Lie in the dark and listen.