The release from restriction

from oppression

Is at first so exhilarating

Euphoria spreads

and the birds fly free

 

But, what qualms

always keep pace

with true independence?

 

Time passes its inevitable influence

Upon all

And eventually,

a notion of cynicism

Begins to cut in

But not so deep

To find the truth

 

For truth comes

Only with the open wings

That were hunted too avidly before

And so were soon

Clipped by the birds themselves

In order to preemptively

Disregard encounters with the

Turmoil of the unknown

 

They only cage themselves again

but this time

it is in a different way

 

The cage’s existence is broad

and seems inescapable

save the unthinkable act

of lifting the bars of inhibition

in order to fly out

to the cold once more

 

But the cold is bracing

and some birds

take a liking to its isolation

 

It offers a new freedom

In which they are

Banded down no longer

By the expectations

of the swarm

 

For there is no social order,

domination, or depression

in the open sky

 

The birds

find a better way of being

while flying throughout temporary eternity

than they did on the low dark ground

(which hid ignorance within all shadows at night)

that once offered them sanctuary

 

Wisdom and care-freedom

whisk over them

and spirits shiver

like feathers in the deep wind

 

Not with nervousness,

but with the excitement

of being filled with the kindest light

which brings warmth

even when the most bitterly cold of winds

brew into a storm

and consume all of those

that dare live in the sky
 

The combination of these

carry them back to heaven

without remorse