Calmly Cruising

    We're on our way to
    take a buggy ride:

    Calmly cruising,
    in our sport utility vehicle,
    on the edge of a mountain top road
    that will takes us down
                towards Petra...

    Jaffar catches the blast
    of sonic boom:
    He steers the Land Rover off
            onto the dusty berm,
    and thrusts the gear into park.  
    He leaps up and out, detecting the trace
    of two gleaming gray jets as they pierce
    sound and sight chasing speed-

    A tilting metallic glimmer through
    the deep canyon of red rock at our feet.

    The two jets cut long swathes of space
    as straight as a Roman Road Airborne.
    Pitch and roll and flash past,
        dazzling my dazed husband
    who slumps back into the car
    muttering that he never thought
    he'd ever see
    a jet perform
    
            below his feet.

poem copyright ©2000 Anne Selden Annab