Westward I Fly

Ramstein AFB, Germany to Houston, Texas
13 to 24 August 2009

As I looked at distant bats swirling
In the cone of light thrown upwards
By the landing tower's high-powered beams
Into a misty evening's gloom,—
I did not realize that at the core
Of our galaxy there's a black hole.

Those thirty meters from the ground
Did however seem like an infinity to me:
Earth-bound, awaiting for a flight,—
For those directing structures sent
Large gray birds with whining
Powerful engines Eastwards,—
To Kandahar and other very ancient
Places, where many others have struggled,—
Places, I would no longer go towards.

To those forbidden places,
In his desert camouflage, an armorer
Wheeled a locked cage full of infantry
Weapons into a stainless steel sheathed
Elevator that led him to his awaiting plane.

I thought of swooping bats chasing dazzled
Insects,— and wondered what and how and why
We were flitting from darkness to light.

a.n. Posted as a comment to recyle rhymes poem, "Chase," Fiction Press Story ID 2712452.