A View from 30,000 Feet

Into the dark and silent sky we rose

On silver wings above earth's sleeping floor,

Day had drawn to a long and musing close

When we suddenly saw a million lights and more,

Crystalline cities of ruby and emerald glow

Scattered upon the velvet folds of night,

A gem-cut wonderland of childhood's dreams

Or faery streams of coruscating light.

Yet when we soared into the troposphere

The landscape paled and lost its magic hue,

Mere dots of insignificance revealed,

Lost in an immensity of blue.

As so the marvels wrought by human hand

Fade into the dust of memory

Unless the spirit's seal and signature

Assign our deeds a sacred geometry.