TURBULENCE (written during a flight from Jaipur to Chennai)

Floating with Cirrus and Cumulonimbus flying side by side 

while the world marches on like industrious ants

Far below, the humdrum of life disappears into a distant echo

Far above, the stars plot with illuminated winks of sunlit halo

Below, the people stare upwards at the giant steel tipped shadow

Above, the emptiness grows over the ever expanding horizon

Some inside are awake, the others asleep

as the tides quietly turn and the children learn

The sun veils itself with the darkness deep

smiling at his lonely companion on the moon

A hundred and eighty traveling souls

clicked in attendance by the manicured lady

shake as one, stirred by nature's cough

Turbulence , buffeting breath in a pressure trough

and quaking prayers escape, quivering fright, 

tremors and shivers in plain sight

lights flash over the sound of an alarm 

and the rustle of prayer beads influence calm

A soothing balm, petitioned prayerful needs

And just as it started, peace returns, Gods are thanked

Human concerns elevate as the plane banks

The bird descends, The puppeteer twists invisible strings

for a soft touchdown on the tarmac with ten whirling wheels