A great dark bird (B-1)
circles above.
It is hard to ignore as I
approach and park, then go
do a late day routine.
Lines in the desert seem
more crisply defined with
clear blue sky overhead.
Black silhouette
against electric blue
is hard to miss.
Driving here everyday sees
training flights all the time
as they round the city.
Oddly comfortable,
a nation’s ready defense
against who or what
I sometimes wonder.
My errand is done.
The image returns as
I start up the car and
look through the windshield.
The great dark bird
continues to fly.
It casts large shadows
while it coasts on solar winds
slowly maneuvering near
its unseen home mountain
(Davis Monthan Air Force Base).
This while four young chicks,
training jets in standard gray,
(not the usual A-10’s)
keep careful speed and distance
to the mother bird.
This all, with nearby
afternoon football play
in a still green autumn park.
Long shadows, fading sun.
A warmth of Sol on the face.
Driving away from the park
and daycare retrieval
I notice (and am part of)...
The great dark’s spread
of larger wings,
casting its personal shadow
on us, my son and me,
as it seemingly glides to conquer
near ground in landing.
over a house as horizon line.
Momentary illusion, partaking
interrupted by reality and
a sobering thought.
The cost overruns had
nothing to due with grace
or beauty.
Haunting end day images
mix with Oppenheimer’s
Hindu recitation. – echo
“ I am become death...
...a shatterer...”
(be not death! I reply)
Where there is life, there is God.
Power. Power.
A dropped egg?
Potential death.
There or here?
Hopeful design
never (a prayer)
to be fulfilled.
(11-29-95, Tucson)
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