He dreamt that night
that without warning
the earth’s magnetic pull let go,
as a boy lets go a kite,
to watch it careen untethered.
He and the people in the street
began to rise ever so slowly,
ever so gently,
and it happened so suddenly
that nobody had
time to be afraid or to comprehend
the gravity of the situation.
Thousands of feet
into the atmosphere,
he looked back toward
the receding globe,
a blue Christmas ornament now,
diminishing, finishing.
So fragile, so exquisite,
he thought.
I lived there once
and would give my very soul
to go back.