Taxi br Slowly br Turn br Pass br Repass br Ugly br Concrete br Patient br Radar br Scanners, br Edging the grey br Tarmac. br br Getting lined up. br Pause. br Draw breath br Seemingly, consider. br br Seemingly, decide, let out the breath br And roaring start the headlong flight br At a run, determined br That the miracle will happen, br That all the tons of metal, flesh, plastic, fibre, br All will rise, against nature? - no, all will rise br Obedient to the laws of physics br Engineers ingeniously devised….. br br We're up! br The world tilts br And now br We are the still br Centre of the universe. br The wheeling world br Embroidered br With cunning seams, br Appliqué fields, br Geometric designs of towns, br Picked out with beads of houses, br Scattered with sequins br Of car windscreens br Flashing in the sunset. br br The moon swings by, br Its softened underbelly br Shadowed. br Valleys and dry channels br Unfocused. br But drawn on luminescent blue br Its upper arc is perfect - br A disc, for sure - no sphere like common earth br (Though scientists insist, br And who am I to argue, br For some of them have walked on it.) br br And now, a white line along a glassy rim. br The silent sea paints the edge of England br Translucent green. br Fertile seaweed underneath br Clear below the waterline. br Above our static view, br The spectrum colours of the cloudless sunset br Shade softly. br br The world wheels on. br And we have taken off.