Somewhere, right now...

Somewhere, right now,
A little boy watches a pilot stride through the terminal
And dreams of flying when he’s big.

Somewhere, right now,
A pilot catches a little boy's admiring glance,
Sees himself and how far he’s come,
Stops chafing under the weather delay
Even though it will mean burnt roast for supper,
And recaptures his love affair with the magic of flight.

Somewhere, right now,
A nondescript piece of luggage
In a dark, cold baggage hold,
After standing on edge for three and a half hours
Slowly,
Slowly,
Topples
Over
And thinks to itself:
That was so much fun
I wish I could do it again.

Somewhere, right now,
A first officer guides his craft to landing,
Greasing it,
Garnering the compliments of the captain,
And, on disembarking, the commendation of the cabin crew,
And glows, even though the passengers were completely unaware.

Somewhere, right now,
A passenger on a night flight
Curls up in her seat, glances out the window,
And is awestruck by the northern lights - filling the sky and
Dancing in the reflection on the wing.

Somewhere, right now,
A captain prays
That this turbulent, low visibility approach
Will end
Before the low fuel warning signal sounds.

Somewhere, right now,
A flight attendant serves a hot breakfast sandwich
To a harried, hungry passenger,
Receives a radiant smile of gratitude
And realizes once again why she loves her job.

Somewhere, right now,
A baggage handler at a small tropical airfield
Wishes he could leave the heat 

For some place cooler -
But is interrupted by a sneaking suspicion
That he dropped his car keys in the baggage hold
Of a small aircraft that has long since departed.

Somewhere, right now,
An air traffic controller focuses,
Takes one last swig of coffee
As rush hour begins,
And the enormous, invigorating juggling act
Begins.

Somewhere, right now,
A writer imagines he hears the music
Of an aircraft overhead,
Thinks of all the fun things happening to make it happen,
And wishes he could fly.