First Flight

Up off the ground whooshing against gravity

Through the Canadian clouds

At first the land was lost to white but then

We rose above the clouds

I looked down on the world

From a height I had never before reached

I saw the world anew,

I looked down upon the floofy tops of clouds

Across at their towering sides

And down, down, through the clouds

To the ground,

Flying over Northern Canada

I saw mountains of snow

A glimpse of an alpine lake

A brilliant blue spot of color

In a landscape of white and gray

Majestic mountains,

The sun set and the full moon rose

So brilliant and bright

It lit up the world for me

On my first flight,

I saw as we left the smooth terrestrial snow

To fly out over Hudson Bay

Where sea ice covered the sea

In crystalline fractures,

I looked down upon the sea ice

And out upon the clouds over land

Back and forth as we made our way

Across Northern Canada and Greenland,

I watched the reflection of the moon

Shift across the wing of the plane

As the moon arced west

And we traveled east,

As we approached Iceland

I looked down on scattered clouds

Whilst the moon cast shadow islands

To drift upon the Atlantic Ocean

So stark in silvery white and shadow black,

Then down towards Reykjavik

And the plane tilted

Banking back and forth until

It had turned 180 degrees

This gentle motion caused in me

Mild alarm

But it ceased without worry or harm,

Then the true descent began

Approaching at insane speeds

That seemed all the crazier

In descent than they had in ascent

With amazing deceleration we landed,

Then on the way to my next plane

We went from a bus

Through the howling wind

Up the stairs to the plane

Hair flying over my face

And exhilaration in my veins,

We flew east into the sunrise

At first a soft glow

Blossoming into a rim of pink and gold

Resting atop the clouds,

Down I looked upon the Atlantic

My first view in the daylight

Was filled with lovely white clouds

And scattered cloud bits

Like plankton floating on a blue field

As if the sky in darker hue

Was actually below us

With its infinite blue,

On and on and even when the light

Began to hurt my eyes

Still I looked out

Upon a world I had never seen before,

Finally we approached Denmark

Descending towards Copenhagen

We passed through the cloud layer

And my home for the next four months

Revealed itself to be a flat mosaic

With geometric patterns

Of fields, of buildings, of round tree stands

As if a 2-D painting

Was lying flat upon the sea,

As I come to study climate change

I cannot help but worry

When the sea rises higher

What will become of Denmark?

And as the plane descended for my final landing

I moved on while exhaustion

Warred with anticipation and trepidation

Until I convened with my fellow DIS students

To wait for our hosts with punch-drunk chatter

Until I made it to my new home and settled in

While the world moved around me

As if I was still on the plane

Gently but surely

Until finally I gave in to unconsciousness

To awake in a newer and stabler world.