plane song

for Sonia Giles

1.
wheels gather
speed distance
widens gaps
earth's first links
torn away
silence roars
find myself
alone
airborne again

2.

when needy feet flail -
seek ground to know again;
they reach somewhere near.
mum, this reaching silence calls
full names. spinning in absence;
you remain, always giving birth.

3.

son plus mother; is that the word behind
my lips kept against departure? silence
never drowns it out. space's weight dissolves
no bond. though we may not speak
its name, i live within the sum we share.