The first,
\nA 2:20 p.m. flight to Boston
\nIn a window seat next to my mother,
\nEyes pried open for a view
\nUnlike any I\u2019d viewed before:
\nCars swarmed the streets like ants
\nand even the tallest building was overpowered
\nby the unyielding curvature of Earth.
\nI saw harmony, clockwork,
\nand indisputable meaning.
\nI cherished, I wondered, I watched
\nAnd humanity became
\nNo more than a television screen.
\nAnd I stopped worrying
\nBecause I saw.<\/p>\n
The second,
\nA 6:15 a.m. flight to Raleigh
\nIn a window seat next to a stranger,
\nEyes kept open for a view
\nLike another I\u2019d viewed before.
\nThe lives of people I invented in my head
\nand assigned to different pairs of headlights
\nLimped along.
\nI imagined purpose, duty,
\nand bruising obligation.
\nI wondered, I watched
\nAnd mused about the little cars
\nAnd where all of them could be headed.
\nAnd I stopped seeing
\nBecause I wondered.<\/p>\n
The third,
\nA 7:30 a.m. flight to D.C.
\nIn a seat between two strangers,
\nEyes focused on the quiet color scheme
\nand the shade pulled over the window.
\nThe placid masses carried on
\nWith their coffee and newspapers
\nAnd without discernible emotion.
\nI recognized maturity as understanding
\nAnd consequent apathy
\nAnd I recognized that it was silly thing to defy
\nAnd wonder was a silly thing to force.
\nI watched,
\nBut only barely,
\nA woman nodding into sleep
\nBecause she was just as tired as I.
\nAnd I stopped wondering
\nBecause I knew.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first, A 2:20 p.m. flight to Boston In a window seat next to my mother, Eyes pried open for<\/p>\n