An Alternative Explanation

A single A4 sized heavier-than-water
metal sheet sits on the surface of the sea
bobbing, brine breaking over the cold metal
baked with the logo of the airline
that owned the plane that went missing
lost from radar, vapour trail diffused,
no black box, no explanation.

Subatomic particles are accelerated
close to the speed of light to test theories,
remotely steered towards a collision
that spreads debris far and wide,
once photographs in cloud chambers
now an electronic interpretation
of invisible lines.

A young lad's jacket flaps in the wind
like the discarded skin of a snake
forensic police comb the web of paths
for footprints, discarded detritus,
traces that he walked this way either
alone or with others, but there is nothing,
only conjecture.