A Poet isn’t afraid to close their eyes
Around every Winged thing they find.²
Dost thou thy Flight pursue, when
Freed from Matter’s base encumbering weed?³
We teach ourselves to Fly—
Tuck the sky beneath our feet:⁴
We fall into flight from the broken ground,
With strident outcry gather Air under our Wings—⁵
We stir our Pinions and the nest forget …⁶
We beat our wings—that
Span the whole Width of the ruined town.⁷
We Flit—we Float—we Fleetly Flee we Fly—⁸
Once we were hand and now we are Wing,
Once we were dirt and now we are Air,
We were Lifted and now we are Gone—⁹
We on pinions surpass the Wind!¹⁰
¹ Walter Benjamin tr. Sam Dolbear & Antonia Grousdanidou, Nordic Sea
² Nikky Finney, Introduction to Bestiary
³ Anna Lætitia Barbauld, Life
⁴ John Murillo, Renegades of Funk
⁵ Wendell Berry, The Gift of Gravity
⁶ Emily Dickinson, It Did Not Surprise Me
⁷ Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea
⁸ Oscar Hammerstein II, So Long, Farewell, in The Sound of Music
⁹ Nick Flynn, Sky Burial
¹⁰ Phyllis Wheatley, Imagination Who Can Sing Thy Force