Experience Day

The old skool aircraft took off,
an experience day for our dad
on his ninetieth birthday
to see the world from above.

Last time he’d been nineteen
strapped into a fighter plane
with other things on his mind
rather than the aerial view.

A circus, is what he called this now,
same crowded skies but this time
pleasure seeking tourists airborne
skywriting new dreams

when his nightmares still clung
to him in grey cloud and smoke,
enemy aircraft bombarding,
tracer fire peppering the sky.

I thought he’d be pleased,
I thought he’d love it,
instead he cowered below
the window trembling.