Blue Bird Over Britain

Ninety summers on—
still the silver wings endure
in memory’s sky.
From quiet fields they first rose,
guardians of a nation’s breath.

Warm July trembles,
distant engines thread the air
over England’s green.
History gathers in clouds
where fire will write its name.

They came in dark waves—
shadows crossing shining coasts
toward a waiting land.
Sirens stitched through every town,
hearts held beneath open sky.

Spitfires climbing—
sleek arcs of defiant grace
cut through the blue vast.
Hurricanes beside them turned
fear into a fighting chance.

Young hands-on cold steel,
eyes set beyond fear’s whisper,
they rose into storm.
Courage burned in narrow skies
where seconds measured a life.

Dogfights wheel and break—
white trails torn by tracer lines,
engines cry and fall.
The heavens become a forge
where freedom is hammered bright.

Below, Britain waits—
in doorways, fields, and stations,
listening for wings.
Every distant hum returning
carries a fragile hope home.

“The Few” still whisper—
through ninety years of clear air,
through silence and peace.
Their light remains in the sky,
unfading as summer clouds.

Time turns, yet they fly—
not in war, but memory’s arc
above grateful lands.
Spitfires still hold the line
where history meets the sky.

Look to the skies now—
see the Blue Bird trace the light
through quiet blue air.
Not for war, but memory,
a living portrait of the Few.

By Paul Baldry (LongJohn)

Marking ninety years of the Spitfire, my new tanka sequence honours the courage of those who rose during the Battle of Britain. From fire-filled skies to peaceful horizons, their legacy still flies—etched in memory, carried on every wing above us. A bright Blue Spitfire, is currently touring the UK, celebrating and remembering our heroes of that time, they gave us our today.

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