A Tale Of Two Birds

It was the best of times,
It was the best of times,
It was the age of wisdom,
It was the age of freedom,
It was the epoch of belief,
It was the epoch of audacity,
It was the season of Light,
It was the season of Flight,
It was the spring of hope,
It was the wing's tightrope,
We had all the skies before us,
We had all the earth below us,
We were all going direct to Heaven,
We were all going direct to new nests,
Nothing could go wrong,
Nothing could go wrong,
Everything was alright,
Everything was alright
I had everything under control,
I had everything under control,
And I was on the top of the world.

                     *

Happy, happy skies

That shine the light of day

So benevolently upon me,

A tiny sparrow!

Aha! I do feel it in my empty bones

That this day is different

Aye, this day shines different!

I feel different!

Today the world is mine to command

It's I who will tell it how to spin!

I fly high above the fluffy floor of the clouds

Not like those other weakling sparrows that ramble o'er the treetops

My wings are stronger,

And I follow the flight of them eagles

Oh, I was meant to be an eagle!

Trick of fate that hatched me in the wrong family

But that doesn't matter

Today is not a day to pout over such trifles

Today we fly,

Putting the world beneath our wings!

Light shines on the sweet layer of clouds

I fly just above it

Above me is the empty blue sky,

A sky emptied of its white cotton jewellery

Winds whistle at me, kindly, of course -

From every side

Below me, through the gaps in my white floor,

I see mankind, sprawled about in flimsy cities and villages

I snort.

If only they could fly like me.

The one-eyed blue face that stares at me, in turn,

From above, never blinks.

I feel so close to that one kind eye of life, the sun

It is just within the reach of my wings

I could reach out if I wanted to, really

If I wanted to...

Oh, that lad Icarus didn't know the first thing about flying

Wings of wax, indeed!

My wings are true,

And when I chose, I will fly towards the one-eyed wonder.

Hm! Where are the eagles, I ask

Where are them who brave the stormy nights to break through to the calmer skies?

Not one of them wanders even below me

All above and all below

It seems to me that I and only I fly

Emptiness is the air about me

Not a feather to be seen in the skies

And -

But what -

Wait

What is this deafening silence that I hear,

This calm before some mighty storm?

My wings flutter, my eyes dart to every side

What is it? What is it?

There is nothing above or below

Am I alone in this fear? 

What is this mighty silence and emptiness?

The clouds scoff at me,

And the sun seems to laugh

And then - silence. A sound of thunder

I gasp - what I see before me is a giant white bird

I mean it - I'm serious!

It's got this huge beak, above it to eyes staring at me

What's really unsettling is that it hasn't a feather - it's all bone

And it's big - as big as ten storm clouds put together

The two wings are shiny and they've each got two big spinning wheels -

And the crazy bird's headed right towards me!!!

I should've stayed in my nest

I should've stayed in my nest, should've, should've aargh!

YIKES! It's right in front of me why is it following me it's got me I'm done for

OUCH. It hits me with its beak. Sure hurts.

Funny, when it bumped into me it seemed like

There were a lot of humans inside it. Hmmm.

What are they doing so high up?

Trying to fly again like that chap with glued-up feathers?!

Sigh. These folks never learn.

Presently, I stop thinking to myself because there's something

That seems a bit more important at hand.

I can't flap my wings.

Seems like I'm gliding downwards 

I check again. Left wing - no answer

Right wing - sleeping. 

The big white bird has done some serious damage

To my aeronautical system -

I can't fly anymore!

Yeoooooww! In the realisation, my brain stops working

And my wings stop flapping

And I'm twirling and whirling down and down

Falling headlong

Aaaaa!

I plummet down the white cloudy floor

The vast green stretches of some part of earth appear before me

I've heard that in the last few moments of your life
Your whole life flashes before you
I see myself as a nestling, crying to my momma for food
In my childhood nest
I see a teenage version of myself arguing
With my dad for permission to get out of the nest
I see myself flying away from home, naively determined to reach the highest heights,
Against the wishes of my parents

And then I stop seeing clips of my life history
And the pretty green pasture that I'm racing onto
Beats the living daylights out of me.
Blank, every thought flies out of my mind
And I'm in a coma or something.
Slowly, I come to my senses, or to what's left of them.
Ouch. That hurt, I think, when I'm able to think again
I look around in a daze,
And it takes sometime to realize that
I'm alive or something

I look around. I'm under a big tree. Green grass towers above me
On my left and right and all around I guess it's the green field
I saw from my previously undignified bird's eye vantage 
I realize that my wings are kind of broken
It'll take time to heal...
In the meantime I guess I'll hop around, explore the town, find places to eat
So for the next few days I do just that.
I make a good old nest, just like the old times
And get a few good pieces of fruit
I don't meet anybird else, though

I have plenty of time to think as I play Robinson Crusoe here, wingwrecked
And I introspect, a lot
I guess it's all my fault that I got in this mess
Was too naively audacious, recklessly optimistic
Should've listened to my parents. Hmmm. Well.
Gotta be more practical and stuff. You know. Prudence and all.
A bird should know where to fly.
The better part of valour is discretion, as they say back at home...
Well, no use moping around, I'll make the best of this -
Heal myself, get my wings, fly high, set the skies on fire again.

Cause I so am gonna get back on the air again.