Gamailan

Gamailan

A poem dedicated to the men of the RAF who are missing and, in particular, to Granville Graham, Gamailan.

One newspaper cutting

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[missing word] [italics] those men of the Royal Air Force who are missing and in particular to [/italics]
"GAMAILAN"
[italics] GRANVILLE GRAHAM,
Wireless-Operator-Air Gunner, posted as "Missing" Nov. 7th, 1940. [italics]

[missing letter]hey rose from nestling close to earth [indecipherable word] dusky sea-birds at the eve,
And soared to reach the curtains high
Of twilight, where the palest stars
Peer’d down from peace to earth,
Where brutal strength, unleashed in might
Ane unsought deaths, despoils the land.
So to the stars and high above
The lowering clouds that haste,
They chattering rose and sped away,
And wrapped us in its folds of awe.

Then through the long night hours we watched,
And waiting for those birds return
With patience like a mother dear
Who through the same long hours of dark
Beside her ailing infant's cot will bide,
To mark the fitful slumbers light
And joy at health's return again;
The shadows of the night then gone
Till in the dawn Aurora rose
And dazzled with her silken gown.
Oh! That her heart in anguish bled
And bade her robe in sorrow's gown
To herald, not the joy of day renewed,
But marking that one weary bird
No more returned to this her nest,
The same that in her heart once lived,
Gamailan, filled with noble pride.
From out whose eyes shone life and joy,
Whose voice so oft I heard and loved.

No more I'll hear him call and fill
The mirthless hours with laughter free;
No more shall he our life enjoy,
And never more his song shall float
In raptured joy upon the air.
For as that weary bird sailed down,
To rest awhile (perhaps for aye)
Upon the bosom of the sea,
Gamailan's soul escaped the [indecipherable word]
And, singing, sped towards the skies.

But even though I hear it told
That he has fled our life and pain,
Oh! Wild sea-birds what is your cry?
That Gamailan's roaming still
Among the pallid stars at night?
Or do you in your unknown tongue
Try tell us where he lies awhile?
That, though I'll never know full sure
I guess, and understand as well,
That when the lowering clouds pass by
He will be watching and will smile;
[missing letter]nd in the treetops endless song
[missing word] hear him – and I'll know aright
[missing letters]ailan is with me to-night.

– NORMAN H. B. GERRARD