Produced by David E. Brown, Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) The Dawn Patrol And other Poems of an Aviator PAUL BEWSHER, R.N.A.S., D.S.C. "A new domain has been won for poetry by the war--that of the air. This is of greater importance than the bare statement suggests.... 'The Dawn Patrol' marks so notable a departure in English literature that it will in after years be eagerly sought by collectors.... Mr. Bewsher's most considerable triumph is to have been the first airman-poet to regard humanity from the detached standpoint of the sky."--_Daily Graphic._ "The fable of Pegasus is come true.... Mr Bewsher never strains for effect.... The strongest impression his poems leave is of a sincere and ingenuous nature devoted to duty, but of keen sensibilities."--_The Times._ LONDON, W.C. 1: ERSKINE MACDONALD, LTD. Second Impression: One Shilling and Sixpence net. THE DAWN PATROL Paul Bewsher, R.N.A.S. _To My Father; My Best Friend, My Best Critic._ _P.B._ SEPT., 1917. The Dawn Patrol And Other Poems of an Aviator By PAUL BEWSHER, R.N.A.S. ERSKINE MACDONALD, LTD., MALORY HOUSE, FEATHERSTONE BUILDINGS, LONDON, W.C. 1 _All rights reserved._ _Copyright in the United States of America by Erskine MacDonald, Ltd._ _First Published November, 1917._ _Second Impression, February, 1918._ Printed by Harrison, Jehring & Co., Ltd., 11-15, Emerald St. W.C. 1. CONTENTS PAGE THE DAWN PATROL 7 THE JOY OF FLYING 9 THE CRASH 11 THE NIGHT RAID 13 DESPAIR 18 THE HORRORS OF FLYING 19 DREAMS OF AUTUMN 24 TO CARLTON BERRY 25 LONDON IN MAY 26 A FALLEN LEAF 27 THE STAR 28 ISLINGTON 29 THE COUNTRY BEAUTIFUL 30 CHELSEA 31 K. L. H. 32 THE FRINGE OF HEAVEN 33 THREE TRIOLETS 34 CLOUD THOUGHTS 35 AUTUMN REGRETS 36 TO HILDA 38 CLOUDS 39 _The Dawn Patrol_ Sometimes I fly at dawn above the sea, Where, underneath, the restless waters flow-- Silver, and cold, and slow. Dim in the East there burns a new-born sun, Whose rosy gleams along the ripples run, Save where the mist droops low, Hiding the level loneliness from me. And now appears beneath the milk-white haze A little fleet of anchored ships, which lie In clustered company, And seem as they are yet fast bound by sleep, Although the day has long begun to peep, With red-inflamèd eye, Along the still, deserted ocean ways.