if optimism helps you
if hope aids you
so be it
however
since we all like the metaphor
about the bird taking flight–
Freedom or liberation, etc., etc.,
it doesn’t matter–
Let us use it.
but it is used so often
that there has to be billions of birds
By now.
What they don’t say
is that although each of those birds
may seem special or favored
at the moment it spreads its wings
once it becomes a speck in the distance
It’s gone
Loose.
Now of course
the bird is not going to be perfect
it is going to fall
But you won’t care
Because of course
It is the moment of flight that matters.
and if there are, in fact, billions of birds in the air
all those failures will become a blur
You won’t care
and when those birds come flying back
once white bellies dirtied and scraped
once strong legs cut and mangled
once pure wings torn and rotting
they will cry
look at our pain
our determination
our sacrifices
And you will reply
I see it.
But you will have no choice
But to go on
Because
I
Don’t
Owe
You
Anything.
