I am a bird.
I soar through the sky and feel the sun on my face.
The clouds whisper to me as I weave in and out of their cottony labyrinth.
My family is all around me.
We sing to the sky the songs of our joy.
I sing loudest of all; for my happiness fills me up.
I am warm.
I am free.
Somewhere in the heavens, a star falls –
An act of God or a deliberate slight.
It rockets toward me and knocks me out of the sky.
It hurts and I fall.
Down, down, down I go.
I know I will stop soon and I will fly back up to my family.
But suddenly, without warning, I plunge into the deep blue sea.
“How did this happen?” I cry.
“This cannot be! What will I do?”
I cry again.
My family circles above.
“We are here for you!” they say.
“Pull yourself out!”
But they do not understand how much I hurt or how far I have fallen.
A wave comes and takes me under.
It is quieter here.
I know that if I stay here long I will perish.
A bird was not meant for the sea.
A fish comes by with his family.
“Why are you so sad, Bird? This is a wonderful place to live,” says he.
I say to him, “Fish, you were made for the water. You are free and happy with your family.
My family is above and I cannot sing; for the happiness has left my heart.”
“Then leave this place and rejoin your flock,” says he.
“It is a simple thing.”
This is not a simple thing, for my feathers are wet and my muscles are tired.
I am stuck down here and I have no way to get home.
As the days grow longer, I grow weaker.
It is so easy to shut out the world and live in my sadness.
I no longer hear my family calling to me to keep trying.
They do not understand.
I am so cold all the time.
I spend my days in a sleepy stupor;
Drifting away without concern –
Slipping away from myself and the world.
Then one day, a shark comes along.
“Why are you here, Bird? This is not your home.”
“I was knocked out of the sky,” I say bitterly.
“Leave me alone. I want to be by myself. I hate this world.”
The Shark thinks for a moment, then says,
“You must leave or I will eat you;
For I have traveled a long way and a bird will ease my hunger.”
I cannot leave.
I know this for a certainty.
So, I prepare myself to die.
I am not afraid. I am relieved.
I will no longer have to live in my suffering
And my family can move on above instead of waiting, in vain, for my return.
“I am ready to die,” I tell the shark.
He lunges towards me with his big, powerful jaws.
I close my eyes and try not to be afraid.
But just before his teeth come together –
Locking me forever to my fate—
I flee.
It is involuntary – unplanned.
Somewhere inside of me is a will to live, though.
I make my choice, there, in that moment.
I swim up.
It is hard.
I am weak and tired but I keep going.
I am pulled back down again, and again.
But, I keep pushing.
I break free of the surface
And see the sun, the clouds, and my family.
“Come on! You are almost there!”
It is still so hard.
My feathers are wet and my muscles are atrophied.
But now I can see what I am working for.
Finally, as my feathers dry and fluff out
And I am warmed by the bright rays of the sun,
It is the easiest thing in the world to live again.
I soar back to my family and they sing praises and thanks.
I sing too.
My throat is rough and sore from my long silence.
Each note I sing gets easier, though.
I say to my family,
“Why did you stay?
Why did you not fly on?”
They laugh and say,
“Silly, we will not leave you.
We know you are strong and do not want to die.
We just waited for you to know it too.”
I hear their words and know they are truth.
The strength was inside me the whole time.
I am strong.
I am able.
My heart fills with joy again and we continue our journey in the sun.
I am happier now than before for the sorrow I have known
And the strength I know to be mine.