Today, I Fly
 (a work in progress; last updated 2000-09-28)

Today, I fly --
Forgetting the ground, 
Welling over the walls, 
And seeking the rungs of a fast-flowing sky --
Release this resistance:
Familiar existence,
And parents and mentors and tools become rules
and you.
I
fly

My wings expand --
You thought I had none,
For, when trapped in a box
And you asked me to reach, I shrugged off your demand.
I meant you no harm,
But could not move my arm
For the space was so small I could not move at all.
Now see:
my
hand

Today, I glow --
My ashen face, from embers, thought dead,
With phoenix flame burns forth; now know:
The pitch-dark hole
Which once hid my soul
Became the rich soil that answered my toil.
Let darkness be gone, as I, gushing dawn,
alight
and
glow