I watched the sky come ablaze
At the rim of the sea of clouds
Far across at the horizon,
And as I looked up I saw a magnificent gradient:
The spectrum as the red of dawn rushed up
Into an orange, yellow,
Then a strange green…
Perhaps not peculiar a hue,
But green – though it rarely is – before melting
Into the blue
Of the night soon to end.
I watched as the spectrum enveloped itself
Onto the aluminium surface of the wings
As the aircraft circled and tilted.
The reflection of the sky,
The rays captured by the clouds
So serene.
I watched the artery and veins of the city:
The stretches of yellow-lit highways
And the early morning traffic that paced through.
Twelve hours
Through ten-thousand kilometres,
Still
I was
Far from home.
