Saturday, September 12, 2015

Shoreham Air Show crash


Bridge of Tears 

 A Tiger Moth takes to the clear blue skies
Crowds hoped Red Arrows were booked
Then there are ooo’s and ahh’s and sighs
 A Spitfire passed and up we all looked
Who could say, who could know
How the turn of events would go
A sunny day out at a local air show 

Looping the loop a Hawker Hunter plane
Watchers below take barely a breath
Then a fireball turns the scene insane
When innocent crowds there met their death
Nobody thought a tragedy could occur
Waiting for the lights to change as they were
As suddenly life and death was a blur 

A main road we have all travelled along
 A hundred or maybe a thousandth time
Car radio blares as we sing a pop song
Did somewhere unheard a death knell chime
Who could say, who could know
How the turn of events would go
A sunny day out at a local air show 

The old wooden Shoreham foot bridge stands
Smothered side to side and end to end with flowers
Floral tributes brought there by shaking hands
Local grief growing with the passing hours
Nobody thought a tragedy could occur
Waiting for the lights to change as they were
As suddenly life and death was a blur
 
This poem holds my own thoughts and feelings about this terrible event that shook the community hereabouts to the very core. In the days that have passed since this horrendous event we have found that everybody knows somebody who was close by in the traffic, either just a way in front or behind, travelling in both directions. So many close calls when old Hawker Hunter plane looped the loop and crashed into the bust traffic on the A27 trunk road at the northern end of Shoreham airport. Eleven people died. It has pressed us to see that life if a precious gift that can be taken from us at any time. 

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