slip-sliding away…..

(31st December 2022)

The clouds are not fluffy,
these Cape mountains dull grey-green
as we ascend,
leaving behind
a new home
(a welcome break from so many tasks and problems),
an old year
(which felt like a decade),
and stresses which compounded
week after week after week
as we transitioned to our new base.

Those at the windows sleep –
wasting the best seats in the plane,
while my uncomfortably close neighbour
scrolls through Chinese-language text
before getting up for a bathroom break
(barely ten minutes into the flight).

An almost -toddler sits to my front-left:
doting parents occupying him,
lest he cries again –
baby bawling making the experience unpleasant
for all in this flying sardine can.

His chubby fingers grab
at colourful airline leaflets,
while baby toes scrunch and release.
They won’t be so cute a few years from now.

Am elderly couple sits to my back-left:
wife asleep (glasses on)
while her husband reads a book –
a reminder of how we occupied ourselves
in such confinement
before screens invaded
our hearts and hands.

The stewardess picks up a loose paper bag,
as my Asian companion (now back)
keeps scrolling
before giving up
in search of 40 winks

I should sleep too…
Short nights
and new house sounds and worries
robbing me
of sound sleep
for nine nights now

But out comes the snack cart.
I decline,
while my neighbour takes (overpriced) water and a chocolate…
I’m relieved he didn’t choose alcohol.

My wife tries to sleep,
covered by a cardigan,
while my girls observe the snack patrol –
favourite teddies in hand:
crucial comfort
when facing new environments.

The little one also tries to sleep –
pulling her face into so serious an expression
that you’d think she was doing maths homework.
No stimming today –
just calm acceptance of her confinement
as the early morning wake up call
catches up with her.

The older one is bored –
watching the baby in front,
perhaps wondering what to do next,
before engaging in silent (animated) conversation with me
across the aisle.

Halfway there,
and the mountains on earth
are replaced by mountains in the sky:
clouds I remember marveling at
on a childhood flight many moons ago,
when life was simpler,
and Cape Town was a holiday spot
instead of a place of residence.

I think back
to a later time:
15 to 20 years ago,
when my biggest wish
was a wife to share my life…
lonely flights I’d take,
always wondering if maybe,
just maybe,
I’d meet her on such travels.
And now I glance across
and see her
just centimetres away,
accompanied by my two precious pearls –
a prayer fulfilled;
a reminder to be grateful for what is,
instead of pining for what hasn’t yet arrived.

The girls draw and write teddy bear letters,
hopefully the building of habits
that will leave literary legacies of their own
long after I’m gone.

And now a new toddler explores the plane,
his young mother in tow.
She meets the other parents,
and I hear
that both boys are almost the same age
(14 and 15 months).
And now they meet…
perchance the start
of a lifelong friendship –
or not,
given that the first family is from Australia.

A short conversation ensues
(between the parents)
and then it’s over.

And with that,
I end this too…
Probably my last writing of the year,
as my neighbour snoozes –
swapping states
with window lady
(who is now browsing her phone).

We commence descent soon,
marking the anticipated new adventure
in places I’ve never been.

So long,
2022.
And thanks for all the pizza…