Throughout sixteen seasons I merely looked out of the five bay windows of my brick walled birdcage at shadows of Elm trees dancing along either side of the street.
I was only a lonely observer.
But late one night deep in the heart of the fifth summer I sensed an odd strength surging through my weakened wings.
I quietly opened the door of my cage, glided down the driveway and onto the street below, enticed by warm blustery and liberating midnight winds under the strange glow of moonlight through
translucent sunbaked and cracked clay clouds.
I no longer just longingly admired the view of the dancing shadows on the street through a window; I actually felt the shadows of those living branches and leaves dance with my shadow and felt them caress my
hair face arms legs mind and spirit
as I did a low test flight with them for only about twenty feet over and along the back street below.
I longed to continue my solo night flight like a bird through the midnight air in currents of streets and hundreds of miles of highway where my baby and I like two newly freed birds could fly across the
Sea of Change and of Destiny
where we could at last be truly free in our hearts in our minds and also physically.
But like a well-trained domesticated bird I reluctantly returned to the large cage of my mind where I continue to dream of being free --