Gladiators

All string and struts,
no wonder we called them kites.
There were but three,
or so we claimed.
Faith had a Blenheim prop,
for a while.
The others - both - a melange
of parts from earlier models,
trainee pilots' crashes
or rusting stores of other spares.
In truth there were more
than three in the air.

And the Germans and Italians
thought so too.

Above the Isle of Calypso,
the three virtues patrolled,
defending the home of the Knights Templar.
Timber would spot the Hindu Cross
on the tailplane of a Heinkel or
sinister halberd-shapes on a Spavieri's roundel.

And for ten days we three
saw them off.

We returned to Hal Far
exhausted, elated, exhilarated,
in our bullet-pocked biplanes;
Faith, Hope and Charity,
and awaited the coming of the Hurricane.