30,000 Feet

Patchwork fields

beneath feather clouds stretch

and fade to the edge of

the earth.

She sits beside me

and drinks too much

too fast and talks of

love and loss and

the pain of life.

Her eyes blind to beauty,

Life is Cruel

branded on her soul

she swallows hard and

fills the hole in her

heart with bitter

regret and vodka

I listen and nod and

think about the families

far below.

Hold on to your love.

Hold on to your love.

I look in her eyes

and wonder if she is a prophet

or a messenger

of truth and doom -

a lifetime of seeking but

never finding -

of giving, never to receive.

The horizon fades

in pink and blue ribbons

of light and the Cascades

appear through the

clouds in snow-covered

pyramids, glistening.

Hold on.