How Eagerly They Hope to Find It

I have gotten on and off a plane a thousand times,
And stood in line
Or stood to stretch and waited, impatiently, in that cramped space
Which shuttles us, in miracles we cease to see, across the sky
Until such wondrous things become banalities

But there was something about sitting on the tarmac today, and not changing planes
Which had me watch the new people walk down the lane, in Pittsburgh, preparing for Phoenix
And had me see every new face, afresh, as human beings,
With hopes and dreams
In bodies which are like vehicles hurtling through the sky
Through empty space and time, through the galaxy
As if each has lost something and gropes blindly in the dark for it
Wearing the same expression, interrupted only by a guarded smile
To belie how eagerly they hope to find it