"A HANDFUL OF SILK AND GOD"
_________________
Anonymous 462d Trooper 

Sobbing low, bucking high,
Motors thunder through the sky:
Prop blasts over strut and wing,
Maddened demons, howl and sing:
And out of this we are going to fall
With a handful of silk and God,
That's all.

Small red light gleams at the door
Throwing blood-red pools on metal floor.
Beyond is space, vast and deep:
Awoke you screaming, once, from sleep.
And out of this you're going to fall
With a handful of silk and God,
That's all.

A match is struck to a cigarette:
Grim young faces in silhouette:
No figment of a fear-struck brain-
These, the shadows that line the plane--
They too into void are going to fall
With a handful of silk and God,
That's all.
 

They too hold fear, bridled tight,
Fighting fear with fear of fright:
Facing the job, the task at hand,
Grimly determined, indomitable band.
Soon into space we're going to fall
With a handful of silk and God,
That's all.

But our hearts beat high for the land we love,
And our courage comes from the sky above.
When down from the clouds with our Weapons of hell
We'll avenge the comrades we loved so well.
What more shall we need when we get the call
BUT A HANDFUL OF SILK AND GOD--
that's all?

Anonymous
462nd Parachute Artillery Battalion

Poem per courtesy of the Daniel MacRaild Collection►