Flight

We came together like strangers boarding a plane,
crammed next to each other, stubbornly unwilling to
take our seats, vehemently demanding to get off the cab,
confused about the flight and nervous about the takeoff,
unsure of everything yet to come, except that soon,
in an instant, before we'd know it, we would be
In the air, locked into place, and sealed in our fates.
We weren't overjoyed in the ascent, as we
nervously gripped the arms of our seats, and stared
down at the ephemeral landscape below us,
wasting away in the arms of a fading twilight.
But as the steel bird roared and evened its wings,
we realized that even as scared as we might have been...
We were flying. And there was no way back to earth.

The flight soon expanded. It wasn't a necessity anymore;
it was an adventure--each dip, a new world to explore;
every dive, another lesson learned. We found out
that our neighbors were more than strangers
with the same obligations as ours, but friends and lovers
and rivals, all traveling in the same direction, but
all with different goals. We discussed our plans
upon landing. We fantasized about the lands
we'd visit and the people we'd meet, the opportunities
we'd be given and the risks we'd be willing to take
to go as far as our dreams and aspirations could
take us. We raised our voices in an joyful clamor,
a tribute to ourselves, each other, and the clouds ahead,
barriers, gateways, portals to the future. Our future.

But the winds were relentless. Each new high brought upon
a new gale, a new threat to our way of life, our utopias
and our civilization. They threw us around the sky,
shooting us through vapor, smoke, the greyest of all
grey clouds, through thunder and lightning
and the darkest days imaginable. And there we sat,
huddled in the cab, praying for a new light and a new day,
holding fearfully not onto ourselves, but each other.
After days we emerged victorious, champions of everything
that once held us back and kept us lassoed to the
rotting, white-washed picket fences from which we had
broken loose in ecstasy and jubilee, when we were on the ground.

But then we noticed the plane was going down,
not in a hell-bent nosedive or a deathly spiral,
but willingly, with no debate, without a fight or single word.
We gaped at the earth as it grew and developed hour by hour.
Thrilled, we envisioned the things we could do
upon landing. And suddenly, the flight didn't matter.
Some of us had already started forgetting it, as if
it was simply a tiny nick on the wheels of progress.
And there it was: a crash--an unexpected thud.

We all clamored to keep our balance and regain our composure.
Prisms of light began darting into the room as
the hatch was haphazardly flung open. Our thoughts
became grounded just as we were. Everyone gathered
up his or her things and descended to the ruthless asphalt,
strangers once more. Nothing more than a few
coincidental introductions and inconsequential meetings.
We bee-lined to the re-entrance gate and mobbed around
the luggage retrieval, all eager to recollect our belongings
and be on our separate ways. But as we searched tirelessly
for our things, some of us began to look up. We met the
wandering eyes of those with whom we had once
shared our lives. We interrogated them. Each shift of focus,
airy blink, furrow of the brow being a new question,
each new query a stepping stone to the obvious:
"Who are you?" In response, a single, collective, whisper:
"A friend." No fluff, no lie. Just two comforting words.

And so we each hurriedly grabbed what we thought
was ours, and rushed to each other in apprehension
and, even still, sheer wonder. We all knew we were
destined to make our own paths off of the main road
soon enough, but we also realized there was plenty of time until that.
Unwilling to respond to the wild calls of fate, we took
each others' quivering fingers, clasped each other
on shaking shoulders and walked to the looming
entrance/exit doors together, all nervous, all shivering,
All loved, all ready, all hopeful, and most of all,
All smiling.