Tim Harris
The Pilot's Wife
Some time later
I would stand next to her
wondering at her thinness,
the blackness of her dress and hair
and how
whatever sounds she made
I could not understand
the meaning of the words
although we spoke a common language.
“Whatever did she say?“
I asked myself, and
“Did she speak at all?“
I felt I had been miles away.
Meanwhile her husband told the story
of when he was the captain of a jumbo jet
and how, he and three others
–including a passenger–
had to bundle a drunken woman
into the crew’s toilet
because she was communicating
in a way that no one liked.
I guess that the one wearing the black dress
and standing next to me
had heard that tale many times before
but his latest passengers, we party goers
all gathered round, were most impressed
and laughed when he told how
she almost, almost broke down the door
with her feet...
and almost, almost
I remembered what his wife had said.
I would stand next to her
wondering at her thinness,
the blackness of her dress and hair
and how
whatever sounds she made
I could not understand
the meaning of the words
although we spoke a common language.
“Whatever did she say?“
I asked myself, and
“Did she speak at all?“
I felt I had been miles away.
Meanwhile her husband told the story
of when he was the captain of a jumbo jet
and how, he and three others
–including a passenger–
had to bundle a drunken woman
into the crew’s toilet
because she was communicating
in a way that no one liked.
I guess that the one wearing the black dress
and standing next to me
had heard that tale many times before
but his latest passengers, we party goers
all gathered round, were most impressed
and laughed when he told how
she almost, almost broke down the door
with her feet...
and almost, almost
I remembered what his wife had said.
Page(s) 22
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