mice, and sky.
So, when she was injured and the sky scorned her,
the thought that she must now be a mouse drove her mad.
They had to wrap her. She wanted to kill them,
but had become a lesser even to pigeons; she was all fury and no effect.
Nothing in the sky is sick, but the ground is full of bones and graves.
She became feet without wings, dying of stillness.
Why did they touch without killing?
Didn't they know that, under her feathers, she was meat like anything else?
Days went by. She fought them. She lived. So what?
They brought her food and she tore at it.
After forever, she stopped hurting.
After forever, they took her outside and the sky was still there.
She took a step, then two. She tried her hurt place.
For her, gravity had always been reversed, and so she raised her shoulders and felt herself fall.
________
This owl spirit sounds so injured, so damaged, and yet...flying is like falling, indeed. But somewhere in that tumble up into air, the soar still begins, even if it takes more than one ever thought one had to do it. Achingly beautiful poem, Shay.
ReplyDeleteYes, as Joy says, this poem is achingly beautiful. I love how you get right inside that bird.....she only knew mice and sky. How she fought being earthbound. Her spirit is meant to soar so, once her hurt was healed, off she goes again.....as do we all.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful how you got inside her head and became her.
ReplyDelete"all fury and no effect"
ReplyDeleteHow often I wanted to die in those days before healing and falling.
Splendid poem!
Too many f---ing gorgeous lines to cut and paste.
ReplyDeleteHITH do you do it?
Gorgeous write--it makes me want to fly myself
ReplyDeleteThank you , Fireblossom
ReplyDeleteThis is a brilliant idea, flawlessly executed. I can just picture this coming to you, how excited you must have been over it ... eager to begin fleshing it out.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about the "they," but I'll leave that for my imagination to work out.
These are my favorites:
"she was injured and the sky scorned her"
"she was all fury and no effect.
Nothing in the sky is sick"
"She tried her hurt place."
Beautiful ending.
This is so full of hurt. "Dying of stillness." Wow. And the ending is breathtaking.
ReplyDelete