Twenty Thousand Feet above New Mexico

From this height, through layers of clear, hard plastic,
the world below passes at an alarming rate
The clouds like sheets of cotton batting,
stretched thin and picked into shreds by the hands of some giant child,
skitter below along an invisible glass tabletop
A translucent fillet, herring bones visible, insubstantial as smoke,
slides above the others, driven by a different current
Gaps in the tattered lace below show glimpses of civilization
Perfect circles of olive, emerald, kelly green,
rust and tan, superimposed on a grid below
Patterned by an unknown mind, given stripes of varying shades
Blocks of beauty, order imposed which,
from the surface, would not be seen

Soon enough the signs of human intervention give way
to an unrelenting gray-green-brown, cracked and ridged, with
pale scratches angling in broken segments – roads thin and meandering
as a child's watercolors urged across the landscape by puffs
of breath through a red-striped straw.

Even still that wilderness roiling below these wings
harbors the life that beats within us all
The glory of God's creation
Indeed, we are fearfully
and wonderfully made

den 17 sep 2007
for Cherry, with thanks
for the inspiration to put words to my flights of fancy once again.

Comments

[cereza]

I especially like the last stanza.
"Even still in this wilderness"...

Keep writing, my sister. love you!

[Mom]

Wow! How many times have I flown and looked out the window of the airplane and marveled at the cloud formations and the ground below me - I never got thoughts like that! You are a wonder and I'm so proud to be your Mom.

[John M]

Beautiful! It's been a while since I've visited and I don't remember you posting poetry... glad you have. I remember reading some of your older work and am glad to see you bringing out fresh material.