A wing and a prayer

Clambering down the rocks I came upon a gull's wing, an unusual sight since these birds are strong and agile fliers, usually well able to cope with the down-drafts and upthrusts of the wind around the cliffs.

"Coming in on a wing and a prayer" came into my mind. I knew it was to do with World War Two flying and now I find it was an American song that was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1943. Here it's sung by the English wartime star Anne Shelton, when she was not yet 20. It was then used in a 1944 film, Wing and a Prayer, based on events in the war in the Pacific.

Also transatlantic is this 1925 poem, Sea-gulls, by the Canadian poet E.J.Pratt

For one carved instant as they flew,
The language had no simile-
Silver, crystal, ivory
Were tarnished. Etched upon the horizon blue,
The frieze must go unchallenged, for the lift
And carriage of the wings would stain the drift
Of stars against a tropic indigo
Or dull the parable of snow.

Now settling one by one
Within green hollows or where curled
Crests caught the spectrum from the sun,
A thousand wings are furled.
No clay-born lilies of the world
Could blow as free
As those wild orchids of the sea.



[Thanks to everyone who left such appreciative comments on yesterday's blip and put it in the spotlight. I was touched that it struck a chord with so many.]