The Last True Story You'll Ever Hear

Many didn't survive. Some of the survivors were mad at God; some thanked Him for His mercy.

And did for many - did the plane just keep taking off, climbing straight to the sky? The sun's rays are gold on gold above the clouds. The pure, cold air feels so good.

Then the blessed silence as the engines spool down. The fire dies and the seats stick out like burnt cacti.

"Some didn't move. It was like they were hypnotized," a survivor remembered.

When the inevitable happens - is there a part of us that knows? When the flight or flee function kicks in...who choses option C?

It was a mistake. The accident was a mistake by two men in big planes and a little man in a control tower. Many Christians believe there are no mistakes in the eyes of God. For those that accepted their fate in the cabin of this ravaged 747, were they answering to God or to themselves? Did they make the mistake?

Or did they just keep climbing?

1,000 Miles Above Ground

I built an airplane made of stone...

1.

The people on the bridge

saw the low cloud

and felt their roofs rip off.

**

2.

"Larry, Larry, we're going down!"

***

3.

On the approach to National

scrapes still cling to the side of the bridge.

***

4.

It took days to lift the crooked bird from the water.

It took hours for them to repaint the tail white,

so no one would see the brand name.

*****

5.

737-100

Cigar-shaped engines

******

6.

He jumped in to save the stewardess. He didn't jump in to save the peanut packets or the overwing emergency doors. The man handed off the slick rope and slipped under.

*******

7.

"Good afternoon, Air Florida ticketing."

"Hello, I'd like to buy a one-way ticket."

"What's your destination?"

"The 14th Street Bridge."

********

8.

When I was very young, watching this,

the moving boxes filled the warm house.

My grandmother had the white car and we had the silver one,

and snow buffetted the battlefield.

What did I know then, while staring at the dark water,

of the other cold darknesses that make us all drown?

The View From the Hill

In the forest there are still trees that hold scars -

cuts like razor blades or long knives, jagged.

Thirty years later, pieces of seats lie blue against

the darkness of the forest floor.

Sometimes they find shoes. Others find nothing

but the wind.