It’s a matter of shape
and velocity he says
talking about airplanes
but to me it sounds more like faith
an intake of breath that carries you
somewhere above the ordinary

an instinctive gratitude
for the crispness of the air
for the cunning play of branch
on branch when the leaves
have fallen and also for the veins
that define the leaves

a prayer, a meditation
a sense of wonder that
things work, an admiration
for the architecture of creation
and our connection with
the natural and the made

Science and faith these days
have renewed their old hostilities
but I take as faith that physics
rules the universe and that
planes can fly