While a butterfly in Guatemala

stirs up the beginnings of El Niño,

a young man takes a comb from his wallet,

smoothes his black hair in a cockpit window,

and anticipates virgins in heaven.

Like Prometheus discovering fire

or Moses coming down from the mountain,

he radiates a prophetic desire

which inures him to fear of injury.

He could walk barefoot for days in the sand,

or survive weeks without ever eating,

or could simply resolve to understand

the controls in the flight simulator,

which stand between him and his creator.