Read "Green Balls" by Paul Bewsher online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
"When in the East the evening stars burn clear, We know our time of toil is drawing near; For as the evening deepens in the West, It brings an ending to our day-long rest. One after one we slip into the gloom, And through the dusk like great cockchafers boom; High in the stars you hear our mournful cry, As we sail onward through the sapphire sky. " -- _The Night Bombers._
I suddenly wake, and sit up in bed with strained ears. I have a dim recollection of a noise. Then I hear three or four dull explosions like distant gunfire, and out wails the piteous appeal of "Mournful Mary" at the Dunkerque docks.