I became an aviator to explore all I wanted to see,
to feel the sun upon my skin and wander strong and free.
And learn about this life so far the things I already knew,
be brave enough to trapeze this world and see the oceans blue.
Eyes cloaked and squinting under all the sunshine's might,
a sense of dazzling clarity from both senses and the light.
Hello new dawn hello new day and hello to new me,
tethered oh so heavily when I used to be at sea.
Long may this greatness stay with every moment passing through,
and blown away the fog will be that blurs life's glistening hue.
Dreaming that the sun will never settle into night,
or that my wings will fail me now or cause me to alight.

He wears a Beanie
Aviator Sunglasses
Stumble over wheels
Look
Eye contact
I smile
You blow a kiss
I want to wink
I don't
I smile
I like you
I'll never see you again
Bicycle boy.

Through halls of cloud his spirit soared
Through countless skies of gold
In windless corridors of air
Through vistas vast and bold.

Across the checkered fields of green
Above those mountains high
My friend would wing his aeroplane
Into an endless sky.

The windswept beauty reaching out
The world so far below
This freedom to spread out his wings
Would make my friend’s heart glow.

His spirit soaring like a bird
Into a sky of rain
The sunlight setting in the West
In shades of sweet refrain.

Alone, aloft in peacefulness
Is where he means to be,
To fly as one with eagles
High above a distant sea.

To reach up through the heaven’s gate
To be at one with God
To spiral round like feather down
And touch down on the sod.

With a heavy heart and weary hands
He shut his motor down
Forever more to be with us
Imprisoned on the ground.

A sunbeam I see yonder there
At play amongst the shrouds
And I fancy seeing Leon’s ghost
Flying up into those clouds.


Marshalg
Mangere Bridge
11th June 2008
Dedicated to my flying mate, the late Leon Denize.