On the very first day,
I wore that white coat
for its true purpose
my father's cheeks were
wet with tears.
They fell despite his resistance
  for that year the rain had been too much
and the dam had been worn down by dreams
and the white coat was a beautiful rainbow.

Fear,

wound it's tentacles around my body

round and round

squeezing, suffocating

around my arms, legs and torso

its head resting on my hip.

Its black sticky ink preventing me from seeing.



So I walked the hallways of my home

with the added weight of an octopus-blinded

and let sleep lull me into its sweet embrace

the octopus by my side, subdued for now.

the tide came slowly, shyly

and then receded on

that silvery sand

and the sky with its bleak

gray clouds watched me

pitifully.

It strikes, not with a gale,
but with a drizzle of cherry blossoms
and a flurry of gentle chords.

In my own little world fireflies stay in open jars
Flowers paint on their colors for the next day,
And the moon laughs while it walks away.
The trees speak of ancient scars,
The creek brings up lost trinkets from afar,
And the animals cry for freedom,
But freedom is not free.

I step up to the edge, the breeze blowing my hair.
I close my eyes and I can see it.
My feet leave the ground as my wings catch the wind.
I’m flying.
But, when I open my eyes, I’m not soaring
and my feet are still on solid ground.
What if I fall?
I can’t risk it, that pain.
I look around and see others fearlessly facing the plunge,
but I remain frozen in place.
Scared.
All I can think is, “What if I fall? What if I fall?”
It’s then, in the midst of my frantic thoughts,
That I hear a still, small voice say,
“Yes, but what if you fly?”