GRAVITY
This is not a heart attack
It is the pain of empathy
Trying to glue the wings
Back on the broken birds
But some things once broken
Cannot be fixed
They do not die, they cannot
Sometimes it’s worse to break
Because broken ones still feel
Rejection when they are moving silently
In eclipse cold, in isolation
And the broken birds still want to fly
Hearing the call of the flock but muted
Their voices lost. And the happiness of others
Is not their own, it cannot be
Their eclipse does not depend on
Stars moving along the charts, on collisions of
Celestial bodies when the light goes wordlessly.
It is an eclipse of thought entirely
And the broken birds pray
Let me fly, God, I was made for flight
Let me live, God, I was made for life
But if you cannot grant my wish
Let me go, God, I was meant to go
This is not a heart attack
It is the shattering of love
The birds without their wings
Resting in twilight immobilized
We were not meant to break.
At least we suffer patiently
Because we cannot run away
From the pain of the empty house
From the pain of empty gardens
From the beating of empty hearts
We stare into our darkness until our eyes are
Blinded by moonlight
Or until darkness turns away, having found
Something darker than itself
Fleeing from my radiance
I am in darkness, but I shine
And this dark light goes beyond
It is unbreakable and it has wings
That bring it to all those places where I cannot go
And on those dark wings of thought
I will survive this night of all the nights
To grow new wings, quietly, for when
Morning comes and the white light
Comes rolling over the mountains
Bursting from the sky, raining down
On all of us waiting to take off for flight