Tailwind: Poems by a Teenage Naturalist

Wings

A word cannot describe you
My invisible bird of prey
Even when the skies are clear
You are always there.
Circling overhead; waiting.
Within your veil of grey

When I first met your midnight plumes
I thought you would go away
I denied you, as did others.
But even though at first no one else saw you,
I knew that you would stay

You used to wrap your talons
Tight upon my heart
I would struggle to see through
The vortex of smoke
Like a phoenix gasping its last breath
You hide in it, refusing to part
And become alive again

I had to learn alone
How to face you
How I could get through each day
With your wings blocking out the sun
(Some days you may fly far away
But your wrath is never truly done)

You came uninvited
And every time that I flew
The talons you raked across my soul
Have made me grow stronger
Perhaps someday I will become
The girl whom I once knew.

This invisible spar
That we have every day,
Has taught me that I am stronger.
I have you perched upon my heart
Yet I know I can fly longer
Faster, higher.

You tried to wear me down,
But now you are afraid of me
Because I turned your dark feather
Into a power I can use.
And though you still fly behind me,
I know your secrets and you know mine.
Though we are bonded forever,

I will rise out of your ashes with every day I face.
When my phoenix light is faded
And the mist your presence brings,
I remember all that I made it through, while my soul flew,
On depression's inky wings.