Flying

FLYING

I try not to think about dying and instead

I close my eyes and imagine - I am outside watching

while we race along the runway.

Meanwhile inside - I try to predict

the exact moment we leave the earth.

And then, when the only thing between fresh air and me

are a few thin layers of metal and plastic

and perhaps a pile of luggage

or maybe a tank of fuel - (I don’t actually know how aircraft are constructed)

I try not to think of plummeting back to the ground.

You see I do not truly understand how they stay in the air.

I get that it has something to do with wind and lift

after all, I have flown a kite and watched a sail fill.

And I realise there must be physics involved -

but then again, I don’t really understand that either

having given it up before my O’ levels - too many numbers.

Thus I fail to comprehend how pressure

can keep nearly 80,000 tons in the sky.

So while we are all squeezed together,

shoulder to shoulder, like fish in a tin,

I think of how to solve, ‘worst-case-scenarios’ -

which is pointless really. Since I know that -

Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson and Liam Neeson are not on the passenger list.

But it passes the time

until we are once again strapped into our seats

and hurtling back to earth.