Wings of Steel

For Patty -- March 12, 2002

Wings of steel pierce a cloud-wrapped sky
The world I call home falls away as we ascend
Row upon row of humanity’s cages
Anonymous pieces on an organic game board
As they grow ever distant, I envision their prisoners
Living death masks animated by pretense
Where love and indifference are coldly synonymous
And resentment and apathy are imposters for ambiance
I trace the stiff rows with a cold finger on glass
And wonder what strange justice determines my fate
That I, who love and live, find myself pulled away
My hands, my body, my mind, all slaves to circumstance
My heart still with you, in your care
Its broken shell inside me, longing for reunion
I yearn for the woman who makes my house home
Whose beauty adorns everything that pleases the eye
Into whose arms I can fall hard and feel safe
My love, my very life, my only true sanctuary
As these wings of steel scream through the night
I swim fitfully in tears of my loneliness
Drowning in dark anonymity, freezing, alone
A speck on a seat in a machine in the air
Coasting above a fading game board
I’d offer my soul just to be able to play