"souls on board—total number of passengers and crew"
FAA Advisory Circular 150/5210-7D, Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting Communications

Called away from our families,
already they think us very far gone
and destinations do not expect
us until Monday's continental breakfast.

By cell phone we make visitations
to both sides of time and space,
arranging details and saying late goodbyes,
until at last the crew commands a vow of silence.

Bored as angels, we meditate on the architecture
of cloud tops and the awkward geometry
of crop fields. We bow to the little hope
of bridges between small river towns

and the immaculate perfection
of parking lots. The valleys seem to pray
to us, mouths open wide with the broken
teeth of houses and the long fangs of church spires.

Later, as we touch down and are reborn
to the earth, we will forget this new wisdom
and cast off our divine status somewhere
between the jetway and the taxi queue.

Meanwhile, up in the tower, the controller
will call for an accounting of souls.