I WANT A SWING!

                          for rosmarie weinlich

O how luscious it is

to glide through the air

like a dandelion seed 

carried on the wind,

floating on the world's 

laughter and defiance:

I want a swing!

Those teeter-totter days,

the  headlong rush into giddiness

and hairswept wonder

of the future! The great beyond!

The wild blue yonder!

Suspended on the hand of god:

I want a swing!

Seesawing to terra ingognita!

The point of no return,

then sweeping back,

receding estuaries

of time! Of space!  The Terror

of cosmic disorder, retrograde

wobbling out of control:

I want a swing!

Oh it was Sabre Jet Ace,

mad sky divers racing

and plummeting, 

X-15's scraping the stratosphere's

edge, the inexplicable pull

of gravity even on earth's halo:

I want a swing!

O Daedalus!  O cunning  father!

Why did I have to grow so old?

Why did you give me those wings

of feathers and wax and string

just so I could escape 

the world's distrust?:

I want a swing!

O America! 

O land of possibility!

The great leap into god's breath,

the headlong rush beyond the soul's ache!

The immensity of being itself,

oscillating and free!: 

I want a swing!

O the flourish 

of to-and-fro and yo-yo!

Newton's pendulum 

and Einstein's Super 

Mario Brothers glide 

on a quantum ride!

Underdog me!

Push me to the limit

so I can parachute

back to your arms,

breathless and free: 

I want a swing!