Poem From Inside A Helicopter

 

Helicopter flight is very uneven

You’re constantly bobbing about

Tis surely no pastime for the seasick

Nauseous attacks are never in doubt

 

Unlike passenger flying we circle

Dipping we weave, bob and play

Swoop and then glide like an eagle

We thrill in like fashion all day

 

The noise must not be discounted

Vibrations do shake to the core

The whole rattling vehicle clatters

Tremors rise up through the floor

 

Rotorcrafts lurch when they tilt

Disconcerting, that must be said

From our angle of dangerous lilt

Tis wondrous we’re not all dead

 

A sharp turn is a thing of beauty

like fairground shuttles at speed

Bodies are compressed by air forces

Respite is the one thing you need

 

The ground is a quilt of spaces

Houses are small and they gleam

Far down cars and people moving

Their distance is one of a dream

 

Patrick Mackeown, June 2006

Picture by Alex Bruda