“Balloon Skies” by Emily Louise Heard
lift away from the day
rise up out of the world
upon eagle-path thermals
blue currents embraced
by persistent north wind
benign altitudes moving
to undulant timelessness
witness to histories flawed
in their passage below
the receding green ground
dissolves into itself
the eyes fill the brain
with impressions of
pastoral landscapes
ill-lit panoramas of
primitive verdant geometry
drawn by rude hands
human husbands of nature
whose imprints trace acres
between fixed horizons
their cardinal edges delimit
the mortal existence of
men with two hearts
comorbid of conduct
through war or through peace
mornings immanent laid
along linear travel of time
bring their daily surprise
never known to beforehand
which scene will prevail
on each dawning new day
whether conflict and crisis
will bloody the earth or
desist and diminish to lurk
behind vanishing points
leaving license and lease
for tranquility come to brief
moment of burgeon beneath
soft staccato expulsions
and wanderlust whoosh
of the voyager’s flame
