Seat Belts Please

The boarding was seamless
Combination of business and holiday folk
Three and half hours to Charleston S C.
The business guys orderly and routine
The holidayers rushed and thinking
They have forgotten something.
Canned music is heard.
Then the Captain’s voice.
Welcoming, giving confidence
Briefly addressing the weather
And intended altitude.
Probably fifty-ish in years.
I am fairly close to jet engine.
Window seat.
The tarmac starts to roll.
Bum is feeling the shake
Of this large can of
Homo sapiens.
Lady beside me registers awkwardness.
Going to see her sister in
Moncks Corner.
Been a couple of years.
Hugs are better than phones.
With the donning of earphones
She is lost to me.
Six year old ahead of me
Tells Mom about the likely
Sequence of events.
Must be a jet-plane buff.
So young, reminding me
Of our Jordan, now piloting 787’s.
Remote, exotic places, worldwide.
(New Delhi, Geneva, Paris, Tokyo
Capetown, Tel Aviv, Athens, Rio etc.)
Tells me much safer than
My morning drive to the factory.
Acceleration now and
Angle of ascent viewed
Through bird’s eye glass.
Horizon saying, Bye now.
One parking lot reduced to dots.
Gives me a buzz every time.