Noise and Silence

I remember the noise, almost endless,

Of planes roaring on through the heavens

From what seemed a world full of nations --

An invasion's worth of bright wings.

I'd never seen planes like that -- never --

Not even when hurricanes chased them

Like birds, to fly north for the summer.

These birds _were_ the wings of the storm.

I remember the sky full of silence

That echoed with fear. No contrails.

Unnatural -- like the Moon'd vanished

And the rivers had turned into blood.

I longed for those two lonely fighters

To scream past. I needed jet noises

To fill up the nothing above us

And the hush that sang of death.

In the dark of the moon, fly, you bright wings.

Bring noise to the ones who brought silence.