John Daleiden, US

 

 

Free Verse   ...Bound for Charlotte, North Carolina January 15, 2009   3:00 p. m., we board and talk the routine talk--my name, your name. We take off north over the Bronx, then turn west, Hudson River-- New Jersey, then tracking south-- as we climb the landscape shrinks. Flight is joy, freely rising above the ground, leaving the land. Landmarks to come: The Stadium, The GW Bridge--miniature scenes. The blue sky fused with the sea and white clouds--and one huge blast. Fearful sounds--and then silence... gliding through space, fear fills our hearts. Jersey buildings, Weekawken cliffs Hudson River, and then the piers. Brace! Brace! Brace! shout the flight staff-- some say prayers, others text friends. The water, dark green and cold covers windows then falls away. The upright plane bobbing intact, as passengers, exit to wings. Ferry boats fish all from death returning us to dry land. The rescued, cold and alive take up their lives thankful for life. Why did the Gods drown Icarus but spare these souls another day? Beyond "ken" lies the gray land, what we know, and the unknown.   US Airways Flight 1549, a commercial passenger flight from New York City's LaGuardia Airport bound for Charlotte, North Carolina, ditched in the Hudson River adjacent to Manhattan on January 15, 2009. All 155 on board survived.     Read Additional Poems by John Daleiden