1st Flight - 2nd Flight
Bending down I clutch my ankles
straining upward and back
feeling a sense of slight elation
as my feet lift to a hover
So now I know it can be done
leave off & drop back to the floor
Could there be a greater quest?
I put on a jacket & a cap
stick an apple in my pocket
look around & check the weather
The air is still - partly cloudy
base what? 2000 - 25 hundred
I reject the idea of a note
& in the garden try again
So bend - clutch - strain & lift
higher into morning air
Completely at my own discretion
By my heels - so to speak
Do more checks - secure feelings
assured against imminent falling
At least unless I stop lifting
From 10 ft I see over walls
into gardens - along streets - 30ft
distant horizons always receding
At 50 cars & houses well below
Home & family falling behind
100 or 110 feel contact being lost
I hadn't told anyone of this
experiment - a backyard dog
is barking in anger or distress
As the height increases so does
the sense of isolation - as quickly
distance grows in the tranquil air
At this mid point between earth &
cloud - perspectives are so vast
haze augments space & solitude
A distracting point - I can ascribe
vertical motion to personal volition
yet what of lateral movement?
There is no control - what force
drives it? As tho I'd jumped
& the world turned beneath me
Altitude gain continues - the mists
are whiffs of cloud giving a damp
chill - 1st doubts & a sensation
of displacement & unreality
as negative thoughts intrude
There must be other explanations
No sense of movement or speed
only of time passing & the day
growing old - The whole city so
far below - beyond - remote hills
& dark sea - dusk is spreading
lights come up - I long for home
once more
