Waiting for the Sky

Countdown on the edge of zero

Edge of a cliff

Can't stop—

The cartoon whistle has begun its descent.

The crash is coming,

It's coming like a crippled plane.

The terrified whine of the engine to

Please, tik tik tik

Please return it to the sky

Is obliterated by

The roar of trees without the power to

Run.

Trucks cracking, boughs

Til tik tik

Snapping, roots clawing for the ground

But they fall, and they

Fall, and they

Fall, and they

Thought the falling would be over by now.

But the countdown hasn't hit

Zero, but the Cartoon Recording Studio Manager

Has not turned off the

Whistle, but the plane seems to have no interest in

Landing—

No, that would be too

Easy, too quiet, too

Still to kill the engine and

Shoot the Recording Studio Manager and

Smash the timer and end

This end

This end

This endless descent—

But those are dead ends,

The kind people don't come back from.

I cannot uncrash a plane or

Pull a bullet backward through time.

I cannot mend frayed

Wires or

Bend mangled

gears—

I can't, I

Can't, I can't,

I can't but I can—

I can still see the sky.

The sky is still there, it's

Still there, still

There, still there—

Out of reach,

But still there,

Still there,

Still there.

And until the numbers ascend,

And the whistle reverses,

And the plane clears the treetops,

I will survive by remembering

The sky is still there, still there, still there.

Whatever it is you love, whoever makes you smile, those beautiful little things that make life worth living, they will still be there after this exam. Don't forget that. Don't give up on yourself. Best of luck!!