Disoncerting

Disconcerting – that’s the word for it when
They help you into the parachute,
With instructions as if for new recruits:
What to pull, what to do as you descend…
Disconcerting as the gentlest movement
On the joystick, foot on pedal sends
The glider sideways; the horizon bends.
Your senses try to right themselves, prevent
Yourself from standing on your head…
Disconcerting, yes. But wonderful as
The runway slips away, hedges and grass
Become lines and shapes, a counterpane spread
Out so far below.  A long way to fall,

Balanced on thin air: feeling above it all!