Landings

On final approach to runway five,
controllers reel home a string of lights
with unseen cord between.
They have a stressful job, 
those perched atop the tower,
where tired eyes squint behind scopes,
through walls of sheeting rain,
banks of thick, morning fog.
They know the stakes well --
out there, skimming the horizon,
each bulb lights the way
for two hundred men, women, children.

Scott Speck
09/19/2001