The War in the AirBY HOWARD NEMEROVFor a saving grace, we didn't see our dead,Who rarely bothered coming home to dieBut simply stayed away out thereIn the clean war, the war in the air.Seldom the ghosts come back bearing their talesOf hitting the earth, the incompressible sea,But stayed up there in the relative wind,Shades fading in the mind,Who had no graves but only epitaphsWhere never so many spoke for never so few:Per ardua, said the partisans of Mars,Per aspera, to the stars.That was the good war, the war we wonAs if there was no death, for goodness's sake.With the help of the losers we left out thereIn the air, in the empty air.Picture (of the U.S. Air Force Memorial in Arlington, VA) found here.