Poetry Corner: Designed To Fly

When I discovered this poem on the Writer's Almanac a few days back, the hair on my arms stood on end. This is exactly what I've been learning lately. I must teach myself to trust that things will do what they are meant to do without my compulsion for control.

Designed to Fly

by Ellen Waterston

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, LLC, 2008. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)