You step onto the airplane
and grab a window seat
You always make sure
to get a window seat

You stare out at the dark runway
flying at night is your favorite
but right now it feels like the plane
is sinking down, down, down
into a vast pit of tar
or being swallowed up
in the mouth of a great whale

You feel the rumble of the wheels
vibrating your seat
hear the engines
roaring in your ears
see the blackness
flying by outside
as the plane gathers speed

With a slight bump
you’re in the air
climbing up, up, up
floating higher and higher
The city shrinks below you
street lights, neon signs
all part of a giant circuit board

You wonder
who are the people
you’re looking down upon?
And you wonder
am I one of them?

I’m at the park
chilly air stinging my bare arms
as I swing higher and higher
pumping my legs up, down
trying to fly
but the swings rusted metal chains
hold me back
tie me to the ground

I begin counting the stars
one, twenty, three-hundred, four-thousand
millions and millions
billions and billions
trillions and trillions
suspended motionless
in the eleven o’clock sky

I pick the brightest one I can find
glowing white-hot in the cold air
and make a wish
My words hang heavy in the silence
no one’s around to hear them
except for a lone cat prowling the sidewalk
and my own dark shadow

As I watch
my star begins to flicker
and I realize it’s not a star at all
but an airplane
swimming through the crisp night sky

I wonder
who are the passengers
I wished upon?
And I wonder
are you one of them?