~RICHARD O'CONNELL~

VOLADORES

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Vertigo, spasm, seizure or shock,
Screaming centrifugal flight from the self;
Panic, hypnosis, attained by the swift
Rocket, slow dance of the wire or rope;
Voladores, feathered serpents of flight,
They climb to the top of the quivering mast
As eagles disguised, in bright plumes arrayed,
Streaming hemp cords from their ankles and waist.  

Spiral on spiral they undulate down
In aerial daring in the desert at dawn
Until the sun sets with the deified dead,
Celebrating the delirious death of all fear:
Sky diving, free falling, space walking delight,
The umbilical lethal dive into life.

© by Richard O'Connell