大象传媒

First Jump
Malcolm Jarvis
16th Bn, The Parachute Regiment ,WW2

We Reached the cage
for our first jump,
with 'chute upon on backs'
a voice rang out,
"up 600 feet'
-four to go".

The cable let the balloon ascend,
to reach its dizzy heights,
Tatton Park was far below,
this, we soon would know!

We stood in our corners of this
swaying, pitching stage,
looked down and thought ;
who will be the first to go?

My turn had come,
there's no way back.
how did they feel,
those waiting
for Madam Guillotine?

I hoped it really
was a parachute
I had upon my back
and not
the blanket,
we'd often joked about.

Instructor carried out last checks
and followed this with Go..!!
-he may have even added "to hell"!

I pushed myself forward
into the space below,
mindful to miss the legendary
"the ringing of the bell,"
I fell and fell....,
for evermore,
I'm told we dropped some hundred feet.

A jerk, a pull,
I dangled there in space,
potato sack or marionette,
not of this human race!

High above me was the comfort
of my silken canopy,
with a feeling of elation
I was floating,
free......
in another world,
as I had wished to be.

Every sound about me
as clear as crystal glass,
suddenly,
a voice beneath me
through megaphone rang out
"Get your feet together,
prepare your line of drift"
or, land up on your.....s!

Crump...,bump and half a roll
and I was on the ground,
collapsed my parachute
whilst lying on the ground.

Hit the box,
harness off,
pick up the "last tie",
gather chute, join the lads
for char and wads, nearby.

On the edge of Tatton Park
on a cold winters day
we felt welcomed by
the Ladies of the good old YMCA.

We later told each other 鈥渉ow easy it had been鈥�,
but sobered up when we heard
we would do it all again; tomorrow!.

Published June 1991,and permission of 鈥淧egasus Journal鈥�

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