One of the guys I work with is currently in either Greece or Egypt..Both sound very fun

I found it!


Dawn at 40,000 Feet
by Jim Moore (for me!)


Poised at runway's end
I press my face to the window
to catch a last glimpse of Cairo
And the dark red Aldebaran
marking Taurus' face in the heavens

Riding high above the desert, the bull
submits to Orion, warrior of the belt and
sword, master to the bright Sirius,
Noble Dog Star, whose loyalty
to his master is unending

Toward them we will fly; beneath
them we will trace our solitary path
toward Jerusalem, which, on a day
without sun, stood before the world
naked in its shame, yet saved by love

One last run-up and then we launch;
Hurtling forward with the unleashed desire,
pressed back by the flame
of a white hot turbine, its primal roar
echoing across the Suez

A jolt, a jostle, and the bond between
earth and space is broken as
we defy gravity and sail upward
through the blue-blackness of
the Egyptian night

I am weightless on these wings,
my spirit free to hover in this cabin
of aluminum and fabric, while outside
the haze of ancient Babylon recedes,
cast into the murky shadows of morning

Half a world away, my love sleeps,
wrapped in the arms of an Appalacian fall,
her body soft on the sheets, while the
sentinels of my soul stand watch,
commanded to protect with adoration

Fair love, she lies in innocence,
dreamed of and dreaming all at once,
her smile, her scent, her laughter,
her touch, made flesh in my mind's eye
as if I were lying with her just then

I picture her so as the first hint of pink
runs the distant horizon
and the wingtip beyond my window
bends gracefully to greet the arrival
of a new day

Higher still we climb, as does my
heart, desiring her embrace and
closer to it with every passing moment,
until, at last, the night gives way
to dawn at 40,000 feet

-- Edited by Moore ideas at 20:46, 2008-09-29

Oh Moore, such a beautiful poem for you. I am immensely envious - a mate with the heart of a poet. And a scarab necklace too! Last time my guy went far away without me (to Monaco) he brought me back a string bikini. I won't even elaborate on my reaction to that.

I'm still languishing in Barbados.