Golf bravo papa India uniform

Cleared for take-off

Moves to the runway

Revving the engines

And soars into the skies

Propelled by icy currents

 

Squawked for identity

In the air-controller's radar

Uniquely numbered

Thumb-print of the sky

Turning right

As she veers for the coast.

 

     Golf India uniform
     Cruising below the clouds

     Under crackling atmospherics

     With basic services requested

     And transit granted

     In the ordered democracy of the skies

 

     Above a millionaire’s mansion

     Of multiple rooms

     In Surrey’s woodlands

     Contrasting with the other half’s basics

     In rows of south coast terraces

     That can spell contentment.

 

Golf bravo papa India uniform

With only the birds in controlled space

Above enclosures and downs

As the drone of the engine

Competes with the tinnitus

Of an ageing inner ear

 

Then reducing speed

And joining the circuit

Surrendering space, angled in descent

With a last-minute square-up

For the gentlest of landings

That even the birds can cheer.

 

March 2010

 

A flight to Compton Abbas with Steve in the Piper Warrior ll

Click here for more photographs of the Flight to Compton Abbas