To a Chipping Sparrow Taking Flight

Raise your wings—

My sad soul sings;

Fly skyward and

My slack sails fill.

You need invoke no angels,

Since the day your

Mama nudged you

To the edge of nothing,

Singing

“Cheer, cheer, cheer,

“No worries, hurry,

“This is what we do,”

And you too

Dropped into the void

And married air to feather,

Flying, diving, catapulting,

Soaring evermore, for sustenance,

For life, for self-defense,

Sometimes for love it seems,

And in my dreams,

Sometimes, I too

Embrace the emptiness

And deconstruct

Our secret code

Of flying without memory

Or effort, just because

It’s what we do.