Longing to age

 

Craning my torpid neck,
Needing to check traffic
On my left I pushed
Some and guessed the rest;
Arriving at my destination
At last I’d passed
Through one more test,

But not as self-impelled
As I had hoped.  Was it luck?
I hoped not, but if it
Was I’d had quite a lot.
A small airplane passed
Overhead.  I remembered
Sitting with a spotting book

Watching them pass during
World War Two.  I was nine
Or ten but interested in what
We were doing, flying
Overhead to become
Ready to fly over there.
What was done

Near me furthered
Our fight against the
Germans and the Japs,
Whoever they were,
Whatever they had done.
I longed to become older
So I could fight them too.