THE TEARS AT CHRISTMAS
IT WAS THE FESTIVE SEASON, SO MANY YEARS AGO
WHEN A TALE OF HAPPINESS, WOULD SUDDENLY TURN TO WOE
THEY WERE SO EXCITED, AS THEY CLIMBED ABOARD
A JOYFLIGHT ‘ROUND THE HAWKESBURY, SEEMED A KIND REWARD
AS THEY PREPARED FOR LANDING, AN ENGINE WAS HEARD TO FAIL
AT THAT VERY INSTANT, THEIR HAVEN BECAME A JAIL
IT IS STILL A MYSTERY, THE REASONS I HAVEN’T FOUND
WHY THE PILOT COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN, ON THE LOWLANDS OPEN GROUND
THE AIRCREW KNEW THAT THEY WERE DOOMED AS THEY SOUGHT TO RETURN AND LAND
BUT WITH HIS FATAL CARDS OF DEATH. THE DEVIL SHOWED HIS HAND
THE HUDSON STALLED AND FELL TO EARTH, THERE WAS NO CHANCE OF HOPE
TRAPPED IN THEIR FIREY COFFIN, UPON THE ICEWORKS SLOPE
THEIR BODIES SADLY LAID TO REST, WITH LITTLE TIME TO GRIEVE
THE TALE OF THOSE YOUNG VICTIMS, TOO TRAGIC TO BELIEVE
A LONG AND SOMBER FUNERAL, SUCH A PITIFUL SIGHT
WHILE FROM A FAR OFF RADIO, THE CAROL SILENT NIGHT
A MOTHER WROTE HER DIARY, WHEN THE CRUEL NEWS BROKE
HER TEARS SPLASHED ON THE PAGES AND NE’ER A WORD WAS SPOKE
THE WAR HAD RAGED FOR FIVE LONG YEARS, ANOTHER EIGHT LIVES LOST
A ROW IN A RICHMOND GRAVEYARD, A REMINDER OF THE COST
THOSE WHO KNEW AND LOVED THEM, HEARTBROKEN AT THE SCENE
THEY WERE LEFT TO PONDER, JUST WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
EACH YEAR I STAND IN SILENCE AND RECALL THEIR SOULS AND PRAY
FOR THE STAINS OF THE TEARS AT CHRISTMAS, CAN STILL BE SEEN TODAY
By Tomas ‘Paddy’ Hamilton
12 June 2019
The Hudson came down about 200m from my house. The victims are buried at the end of my street. The crash happened a couple of days before Christmas 1944. If you google Hudson crash Richmond 1944, there are photos.
FILE PHOTO: The wreckage of Lockheed Hudson A16-68 near Dight Street, Richmond. National Archives of Australia, via Australia @ War
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