Once Upon a Time Poems

Hurricane Hunter

“Teal Four One, Keesler Tower.
Cleared for takeoff runway two one. Climb!
And maintain two thousand, runway heading.”

Engines full power, not so tough...
Leap forward. Rolling.... rolling...
Picking up speed... Yeah ...we're off!
We soar over the gulf toward “Jason”,
The sixth big one in this season.

Twenty eight degrees north,
Seventy seven degrees west,
Gathering data is our quest.
This is gonna be one heck of a flight
Don’t dream of returning to the base tonight.
We fly heavy with sixty thousand pounds of fuel,
Each drop precious for the impending duel.

I, Paul Lucas, the pilot with five-men crew,
From Jacksonville, the town where I grew.
Where Hurricane Dora hit in sixty-four...
Granpa died smashed by a door...
It was for a kid too much emotion...
But that’s when I got the notion...

Now we descend ten thousand feet.
Things’re getting tough, hold on to your seat.
Billions of numbers to enter,
We quickly zap them to the Center.
By the radar “the eye” is detected
To “the eyewall” we are directed.

Rain’s pouring, soaks the craft,
Turbulence rocks us from the aft,
Lightning sweeps the dark in a flash,
My co-pilot’s face turns to ash.
We are thrown one thousand feet, as I cry:
“Swell job guys, we made it to the eye.”

All of a sudden the sun shines bright
The wall of clouds surround its light
Miles of blue above of us lie
What an illusion, the calm in the eye!

Jack drops the launch tube into the center.
Types the data, clicks enter.
The dropsonde touches the water
In Miami they’re aflutter.

Mom lives there by the ocean
My heart is bent with emotion.
I hope they started evacuations
This storm moves in fluctuations.

Again, the wall, the eye, we crisscross
I fly into wind to avoid loss.
For six hours we’re inside the storm
The wife and kids I hope they inform
For the flight home more time’s needed
I’m sure our work is well heeded.

Hours pass, we glide into the landing,
Our flight has one happy ending.
I pray we can lessen the ravage
Of any hurricane’s damage.

For love of people, I roam the skies.
Humans are treasures in Heaven’s eyes.