Economies of Scale

 

The first balloonists could wave and shout,

got stuck on chimneys like storks,

 

disturbed and then charmed farmers,

took along the mayor and his girlfriends,

 

and were so close and novel that they

could hear singing and drop presents.

 

Up here now we go unnoticed,

too far and too familiar,

 

though perhaps someone can see

this small light something like a star

 

in the dark above a rooftop

on the way home or back to bed

 

out a kitchen window

through the limbs of a tree before dawn.

 

(from Cosmonauts)