The quickened thumping in my breast

So much faster, more frantic than before

The switching, flitting of my crest

As my eyes and ears catch and filter more

It’s maddening to me

After such a life of sullied foot and hand

That this is what I should be

Something now so light and free, so grand

For in my human life, as it passed

Though long enough and healthy, too

Nothing I loved and held could ever last

It flew away, like the light of day, like you

Now, wings have I; and my home—the wide-open sky

My heart flutters as the wind, making me sing

As a man I could only croak—I couldn’t fly

My home was a place to shelter, to hide, to cling

From tree down to glade, from water up to wind

What once my arms forbade, now my wings allow

No more the shepherd, I flock; flight, I’d not rescind

A soul borne of feathers, unscorned, unfettered by base or by brow

To dare: to dive and swoop and—into orbit—burst

On the air—like an acrobat I admired but couldn’t be

To see: far beyond the horizon—now I can view the sunrise first

I need not toil, sow, reap or store—I am fed, watered, wandering, and finally free!

To live as a man, meant to suffer between hopeless want and endless need

Ascended, as I am now, I may both enjoy the fruit and, fretless, plant tomorrow’s trusted seed