I must smile

As I pretend to put on this life preserver

Would anyone realize if I didn’t?

A little girl is leaning into the aisle

Small hands curled around the stiff edges of the seatbelt

Her eyes wide, magnifying glasses of fear

I think of kneeling down, telling her

Not to worry, sweetie

I smile,

It seems we lift effortlessly off the ground

Just as we must trust it, the plane trusts its passengers

Knowing we understand

The power it took to get where we are now

The groan of the engines beg us not to take this for granted

So as the plane pushes its way into the sky

I let it tug the corners of my lips up with it

Again I smile

Pass out drinks and snack packs of peanuts

A soft faced boy with five o’clock shadow

Shoulders slouched to become eye level with the window

Shifts his awe-struck eyes to me, shakes his head

Soft smile, “no, thanks”

Looks back, not to the window, but past it

He sees the heavens

Floating just outside the short thick pane

Just outside his touch

Reach out and sift his fingers through

Snowy tips of the Rockies

Cast in a soft, luscious white he can almost

Taste, Dip his tongue into the peaks of cream

My metal cart offers him nothing he is lacking

Next to him the businessman

Pulls a strained curl

To the corner of his lips

Glances from his phone to order

“Something strong”

I smile

Honestly this time,

The passengers prefer the “friendly skies”

Calm

But I close my eyes, palm leaning

Against the hulking frame of this plane

I let the turbulence rock me back and forth

Back and forth

Back to the familiar lull of that old rowing boat

Forth with the pull of the oars

I allow these clouds to sing to me, those static laden lullabies

The wings of this plane, the radio antenna

Miles high

Someone grabs for their paper bag

I smile