Long Haul Flight
Learning to leave things undone
is a training for death
When you set foot on that plane
for a long overseas trip
what doesn’t get done
on that 200-item To-Do List
stays undone
You may ache for who
you leave behind
as you journey
but not what
And in death, as in travelling,
you take your memories with you,
leave others behind with theirs
can do nothing about this
and all things left undone
but stare at clouds
threaded with starlight,
wait for touchdown
- © Earl Livings 2022
Earl Livings has published poetry and fiction in Australia and also Britain, Canada, the USA, and Germany. His work mainly focuses on science, nature, mythology and the sacred. His second poetry collection, Libation (Ginninderra Press) was published in 2018 and his fantasy verse novel, The SIlence Inside the World, is due to be published mid-2022. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and their ever-growing piles of books.
3 comments:
I have read this several times, enjoying it, & threading it with my own experiences. Another tilt at the Great Unknowable, & very worthwhile. Thank you, Earl!
I have read this through several times, purely for enjoyment, & also for its tilt at the ‘great unknowable’. It’s a well-balanced insight-with-allegory. Thank you, Earl !
Thank you, Erina. I quite like your 'tilt at the great unknowable' comment, 'tilt' being one of my favourite words, as my wife keeps pointing out to me 🙂 Cheers, Earl
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