The Dark but Starlit Heavens

I find myself upon a seat

That flies above the spinning sea

At thirty thousand feet,

A little world, enclosed but free

From all the surface conflict stirring

Beneath what I can see,

The broken lines between us blurring

As we together brush the sky,

Our common hopes enduring

To land once more where shores are dry

With safety and stability,

But still the ground will cry

For greater hymns of harmony.

Might we prefigure what we need

When in the clouds’ tranquility

We set aside our greed

To glimpse the dark but starlit heavens

That shine on one humanity?

I just got back to the US for some December vacation – had some hectic airport experiences, but the flights themselves were nice. Flying often makes me think about the connections between places and people, and this poem gets at that idea.