The duPs - Sky Speak

Sky Speak

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