Friday, August 3, 2012

One of the best birthday presents I've ever received (August 30, 2006)

Lovebirds

For Jiva, on his birthday.

At 10,000 feet you can't breathe.
Daedalus could,
but you are Icarus, trying and failing to fly.

Above your head you saw him
beckoning you to fly and find your home amongst the clouds
and so you built yourself wings, foolishly made of idyll dreams,
climbing to the height of the eagles

Over the sea he kisses your forehead
you can see he wants to keep flying with you
but, too close to the sunlight of his eyes,
your wings begin to melt



and he's taking you into a dive
do you trust him to hold your hand all the way down?
a feather tickles your wrist
your heart stumbles with the sensation of gasping for breath while he holds your life
hostage and precious
absolute lack of oxygen making you desperate--
this is what it's like to drown while soaring

He can't spare you; the world was made to be seen.

but you can't blink, wind stinging your eyes
altitudes and attitudes interfering with your voice cracking as you try to cry out for his
reassurance
it's still a long way down to the treacherous waters
it must be that birds have always lived with love

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