albatross.

here, little broken wing,

try to fly with this.

oomph, ummph

kerplow,

kliberf....

fwap fwap fwap.

oh, the sky seemed so simple

from down there, here.

all blue and full clouded,

fresh and uninterrupted.

it seemed like I could just soar....

I run.

I run.

I run.

...to launch myself into the elegant dive I dreamed of for so long.

the effortless, eloquent curl of air and me, gliding like a cursive S,

so full with swoop and sweetness that

the treetops might swoon at the poetry.

then, paw after paw,

foot after foot, hammering into the planked wooden deck, I roar

towards a blistering leap of trust.

Here, I establish the awkward game of transparency and my tangle of wing burrows me into an unexpected and graceless descent into this here, this me, this stumbling,

bumbling, fumbling,

perched on toes, swaggering and shapeless, silly bird.

I am closer to earth than sky,

belly nearly embracing the shifts of fine dirt and sand.

still, I urge my heavy limbs to discover their rhythm, to beat with purpose, to soar.

on and on, I call to myself with the serenade of will.

you will fly, you will fly, you will fly.

You are a bird belonging to this dream.

you will fly, you will fly, you will fly.

perseverance and patience.

trust and trust.

I am carried at once by an unswept breath into flight.

the sea, a teardrop.

the earth, a handful of green stones.

by design, I am surrendered into the soliloquy of space;

home, again,

in the language of risk and the embrace of love. Held

in the intimacy of mystery.

even this bird, filled with chaos and the motion of storms,

lives amongst a story that rests in

open hands, warm breath

and a true, wild and generous heart.

you are a bird belonging to this sky.

you will fly, you will fly, you will fly.