When we broke from crawling
and considered walking,
you’d swum an ocean
and taken flight
When we fell trying,
you were grooming your wings
for your journey back
You see,
our wings
unlike yours,
are still seeds of wishes on our backs
They have not begun to grow
We are not ready for them
We have yet to earn their being
As you have switched from feet
and hands to fins and flukes to wings,
we have yet to straighten our legs
and stand as you have-
long before you even knew
you had to learn to
Where are you,
child of the sun
friend of the wind
lover of the earth
brother to the sea?
We have only your feathers-
delicate letters from your travels
in our calloused hands
carrying the scent of distant lands
you’ve surely conquered,
dazzled by the color of your soul,
enchanted by your taming touch
and swooned by the tickle
of your tongue
Come back
and radiate your warmth upon us
once again
for we have gone cold and dull
in your absence,
languid and bent
Every day
we stretch our necks
and search the sky
for you,
we look down and wait
for the shadow of your wings
to glide across the ground
Return
creature of flight
of light
of delight
of lightness,
end this bobbing of hollow-eyed heads
and teach us, finally-
how to fly.
***
