When Dan flew into Wellington, on Friday lunchtime, Sophie, Alice and I were there to greet him. He’d only been away a couple of nights, but anyone watching the greeting he got would have guessed at weeks. Sophie threw her arms around him and Alice squealed with delight.
Airports fill us all with emotion and they take me back to my childhood, when my dear Dad would often be away for two weeks out of every month on business (my Mum was amazing!).
I had some fun playing with my feelings in words. I could have toyed for hours, but I’m hitting the pillow soon after Charlotte and Sophie at the moment.
Gangway to the sky
Passage to another place, just beyond the gates.
Should time and money be my mates.
Just the possibility, defeats all sensibility.
To dream of holding loved ones in far off lands,
To reach across a table and hold their hands.
A sea of faces with stories to tell.
To watch is to wonder, to be watched is something else.
With a babe in arms or children in tow.
Angelic children bask in the warm looks of the old,
But, temper tantrums flare under the narrow side-ways glances of disapproval in an adult world.
A temporary community of people thrust together in transit.
Waiting for loved ones or saying farewell.
Expensive shops and fancy perfumes.
Desire and decadence.
People watching, window shopping, sipping tea or drinking latte.
Glamour and vanity, strutting through the terminal like a catwalk parade.
Gangway to the sky, eluding me this time.
Another day my feet shall tread and reconnect with the ones my heart does pine.
