All the war I was longing
 

 
 for my home and my town,

And though I got excited,
 

 
 I performed things quite right,

While he was in a hurry,
 

 
 once he bent not his crown,

And turned backward and forward, and only
 

 
 for two years he managed to fight.

I lived not under cover,
 

 
 nor I asked for the rear,

I was ever aggressive,
 

 
 never trying to stack;

But I took an allusion,
 

 
 and sometimes with a sneer,

In the eyes of the widows I met with,
 

 
 “Perhaps instead of my man thou cam’st back.”

He cried out in the ending,
 

 
 when his plane was flame-ridden,

“Live thou on! thou canst make it!” —
 

 
 through the roaring I heard.

Close to God we were flying,
 

 
 near Garden of Eden,

He just zoomed a bit higher and sat there,
 

 
 as for me — I made it to the Earth.

I’ll for ever be guilty
 

 
 toward my pals who were downed,

If I presently met them,
 

 
 I’d be honored with it.

Yes, we were able to finish
 

 
 this damned war safe and sound,

But we’re not able to quieten our conscience —
 

 
 those of us who had luck to get it.