Night Flight
by Michael Dylan Welch
First published in Frogpond 26:3, Fall 2003, page 43. Written 18 April 2000 while flying from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California. See also “Away” and “Going Away.”
full moon—
along the runway
blue lights begin to blur
turning after takeoff
the moon disappears under the wing
for a moment below
in the Mississippi,
a white oval
the seat-belt sign
blinks back on with a beep—
the moon lost in clouds
in-flight magazine:
a four-letter word for lunar
movie over,
the moon lightens
the snow-capped mountains