waves

i have learnt to fly

I have learnt to fly
Through numbness and despair
Through pain like nuclear
bombs in my mind

I have learnt to fly
Through shattered hearts and screams
Through chains of ivory and bone
Through garments of leather and teeth and claw
The carcass of friends of old

I have learnt to fly
By pitch-black and by light
Through days and days of flight
Through blessings and injuries deep
That only memory will keep

I have learnt to fly
As my broken weapons were forged once more
As the new skin over seared flesh
As betrayal hurts worse than the theft

I have learnt to fly
Through blue life in my veins
Through stale dreams gone to waste
Through injections of old age

I have learnt to fly
As the crushed and splintered bones mended
As my crippled wings new learned to flap
As I prepared to cross the chasm

I have learnt to fly
Through hurricanes and lightning storms
Through blizzards and freak cyclones
Through tsunamis and caving ground

I have learnt to fly
With the weight of my heart balanced
on the edge of the tree branch
As I lift off I have to thank
myself, for turning to dust, the chains
that held me back, a slave

I have learnt to fly
As someone once taught me
How it feels to be free
As they trusted me with a twig of oak
And told me to never lose hope

I have learnt to fly
Through living and breathing words
Through music in my heart
With warm blood beating fast
My youth feathered in my soul
Courage that never seemed to fold
As I have learned from a better me
Never stop trying to be free

Thus, I learnt to fly
With only hope lifting my wings
in the sky