Bygone

Never thought I’d

see a Spitfire

a Reg Mitchell original

in the skies over

Brighouse

far from the coast

and from the hidey

hole of government

even further from its

heyday

its dogfights

or

its dragonfights

as always seemed

to me more fitting

for its name

but there one is

repaired

renewed and

fairly resurrected

performing a solitary

pantomime

an

airborne operetta

of valour

its engine

singing the praises

of the few

whilst the many

crowd along this

road and the uppermost

length of this field

cameras and binoculars

and mobile phones in

hand

half an eye on the

gathering tangle of

traffic behind

them

none of them wanting

to miss it

but equally

not wanting to

be stuck here

being bygone

for too long after

it leaves

but I

being bygone on

foot

skip and dodge

and duck and weave

my way through

all of that

keeping both eyes

on the Spitfire

the Reg Mitchell

original

as it makes its

final pass

and sweeps clear

away into the

east

shrinking down by degrees into 

various scale model

sizes – and at

last into a

dot

on the vast

radar screen of the

sky – which is no longer

over Brighouse

and as I walk

I think that

I don’t think I’ll

ever see a Spitfire make

that trip again.