It was sudden,
A shudder of metal:
The voice on the intercom:
"This is your captain speaking,
We are experiencing trouble
And even with all my experience
I can't keep the plane in the air.
I am going to attempt a landing"
There was immediate chaos,
A couple screams of dismay
And frantic flight attendants,
Just as scared as the passengers
Yell for calm.
People looked at the ground,
A mountainous expanse of snow
Out of the small windows.
A man is still sleeping,
With his headphones on,
Window closed.
The teachers from the high school
Grasped for their precious cargo:
The students they had come to love.
They didn't know at the gate that they were
Going to more than one foreign land.
Mothers stood with their babies
In the isles, and the children,
Who didn't understand that
The falling of the plane
Couldn't be fixed by the pilot
Looked up at the tears
In their parents eyes.
"Hush, Hush, It will all be all right"
Is all the parents can say.
The air of clear knowledge
Overswept the cockpit,
In the middle of the Alps.
In the rushing wind beside,
The contralto sang a single note of harmony
With the baritone from her hometown.
Her husband, with sad eyes
Longingly looking at their baby.
Amidst the chaos.
An almost reverence envelopes.
People sit in their seats,
And latch their flimsy buckles.
The pilot opens the door to
The rest of the passengers
And manages to turn off
The blaring alarm system,
He attempts to make a distress call
One more time to air control,
Then sits back in his chair
As the plane descends.
His co-pilot cracks a joke
About the many flight hours
They were going to rack up soon.
The 148 clutch hands
In the spur of the moment:
A universal acknowledgement
That they were human.
Prayers in German,
Prayers in Spanish,
Looking to the One above.
The two in the cockpit aim for
The side of Trois évêchés
Trying to steer the broken metal
Somewhere safe
There was no terror,
As the seat belt lights pinged,
And the oxygen masks dropped