To illuminate an airfield at night,
the owner should hire a couple of boys
to line the runway with four-minute flares,
zinc buckets half-full of gasoline.
To save money, two-minute flares.
Lights must stay low. Never aim
a beam straight at a plane:
the pilot would be blinded.
Cruising at night under the stars,
a pilot can hold the ship steady,
watch the moon move.
A full moon hones landscape:
the knife-edge of the runway,
the grasses lining the verge,
the leaves shifting silver-sharp
on the oaks beyond.
With a wide moon in a clear sky,
the owner of a field may economize
for a few nights
and not deploy flares at all.