Angels

‘We’re floating up with the Angels,’

Said the girl in the pale green dress,

She’d voiced the phrase in German

For the girl had hailed from Hesse,

‘I never have dreamt of a night like this,

We soar like the gods of old,’

Then they came and shut all the windows,

For the night was growing cold.

 

There wasn’t a shake or a shudder

From the platform in the sky,

The waters of the Atlantic streamed

Below, but they were dry,

A headwind slowed their progress

And a storm was coming on,

The flickers of distant lightning lit

The path that they flew along.

 

The following day, the coast appeared

But the rain set in the more,

Rather than land, the captain took them

Over the Jersey shore,

The weather was bad at Lakehurst, so

They whiled away the hours,

Floating up there above the clouds

And the steady springtime showers.

 

They finally dropped the mooring lines

As the crew stood by below,

When a sudden flash was seen up aft

And a roar began to grow,

The ship was lit like a candlestick

As the gas and the fabric scorched,

While a flame enveloped the girl in green

And lit her up like a torch.

 

The frame crashed down on the gondola

And all you could hear were cries,

It was almost as if the gods had screamed:

‘How dare you enter our skies?’

They say that St. Elmo’s Fire was seen

By the watchers, down on the ground,

But there wasn’t a trace of the girl in green

When the Hindenberg went down.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Linda Marie Van Tassell]

I love the fantastic imagery in the following lines:

"While a flame enveloped the girl in green
And lit her up like a torch."

At 14 years of age, Irene Doehner was the only female child on the flight; and she perished along with her father, a Mexican merchant.

[minisla]

Really nice flow to this piece David.

[TL Boehm]

WOW. This took place before me but every time I see it it is so horrific to consider - the lives and the dreams lost so quickly. You've paid fitting tribute.

[TPK Stories]

What a lovely interpretation of the Hindenburg ...excellent story

[Keith]

Magnificent David! I thought we were being taken on a surreal fantasy, then whammo, the realization it was the Hindenburg. Just brilliant, in my favourites. I didn't think it possible, but I reckon they're getting better.

[Marie]

I read this twice for the full impact of it. Of course I saw the movie...

[SyberRose]

This conjured an eerie, suspenseful atmosphere as always David...wonderfully penned
in your unique style....Rose

[TrimarcoRansome]

Just wonderful, the romance of these beautiful machines so gracefully remembered... I love the subject, you don't seem to hear of them anymore so well done for reminding everyone of that little piece of history.

[Ravyne Hawke]

Wow.. this is a beautiful piece of work about the Hindenberg fire. You planted such subtle clues all along and I had to read it twice to denote them. That was such a shame.

[Tomahawk Joe]

I always enjoy the rhythms in your poetry like a perfect drumbeat.