Day of Lightness

In the glow of summer smiles
our MD 83 160 passenger plane
whines along the tarmac

ahead of us an Air Canada,
also one CanWest jet full
of tourists. Engines happy to guzzle
more fuel, and scream Rams in a race
from wind to sky lifting up, and up.

We were like a fox selecting the
right runway; left, then right
and finally the engine roaring
like a baseball slider finding a footprint
of pathway, soon

misshapen clouds surrounding
movements, then before
the in-flight movie finished

wings like a knife melting mist, edging
downwards to darker mass of
earthly structures. Captain’s voice
trusting, a crackle of radio information:
“Toronto in 15 minutes.”

Layered clouds are stepping stones
of descent, bursting into open
sky, then landing and taxi to a stop.

© Richard L. Provencher