Airborne
by Louise Gallagher

She wandered through her days

like a leaf tossed by the wind
aimless, directionless, weightless

her heart aching
her feet leaden

tethered
to some invisible thread
of memory

caught

in the veil
of yesterdays

lying

in the darkness
of believing
she did not know
how to fly.



It’s not true. You are born to fly,
a voice deep within
 whispered

in one of those moments

when her attention
grew weary

of the world beyond
the pale
of all she could not see

in the here and now
leaving her exposed

to the exquisite mystery
of her life.



She didn’t believe it

the idea of flight

seemed too impossible
the mystery too deep.
She had feet,

not wings
she whispered back,

closing the door on chance
as she turned back into certainty.


But then, one day 
when she least expected it

she felt the urging
to stretch

beyond the realm

of her imagination

and on that day

she discovered
her wings

hiding
beneath the layers of life

hammering at her

to stay tethered

to threads of memory

keeping her tied
to life’s heavy toll.



It was that day
she discovered 
she was born to fly

and her dreams
were too.