Ellen Waterston: "Designed to Fly"

After ten hours of trying
the instructor undid
my fingers, peeled

them one by one
off the joystick.
"You don't need
to hold the plane
in the air," he advised.
"It's designed to fly.
A hint of aileron,
a touch of rudder,
is all that is required."

I looked at him
like I'd seen God.
Those props and struts
he mentioned, they too,
I realized, all contrived.
I grew dizzy
from the elevation
from looking so far
down at the surmise:
the airspeed of faith
underlies everything.
Lives are designed
to fly.

"Designed to Fly" by Ellen Waterston, from Between Desert Seasons. © Wordcraft of Oregon, 2008.  

Photography credit: Untitled image by unknown photographer, credited to Flickr/Cold Press Publishing.