Albion - Thomas Oelker Poem by Sidi Mahtrow

As I carefully opened the dirty, broken book
Laid aside by one who needless took
It's place on the shelf
And put in another pelf

The book's subject, old beyond my years
Centuries having passed in darkest fears
Until by chance I discovered the treasure within
Words written with ink and pen.

The thoughts of man who wondered what would be
As the balance of war seemed to deny freedom to such as he
Yet his words spoke loud and clear
Victory we must have, have no fear.

The words penned there so long ago
When in despair the heart must go
Where the brain can not be trusted with thoughts so strong
To call forth the memory of Albion.

So it was that Airman Oeker wrote his poems
In the book, Catherine, about the Spanish can of worms
and filed the margin and every blank page
With thoughts of freedom coming of age.

And then the war was ended
And he and others were free, prison suspended
To return to the outer world where freedom had been denied
And cast out his book, and the contents inside.

Until I found it lying there
Its cover dirty, torn and in disrepair
A testament to the will of man
To say, over and over, Yes, I Can.

On finding 'Catherine of Aragon' in a heap of dirty books. Thomas L. Oelker wrote poems and drew cartoons of the planes and the crews that took part in the bombing of Germany near the end of the Second World War. His plane (B26) was shot down and he was captured and placed in prison until the end of the war. While he is dead and burried, his poems live on.

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