Work Text:
I.
windswept hair
brown, the same as yours
in the days before the clouds
crept in to leave
streaks of gray.
her eyes turned upwards,
you are her whole sky.
and once you’ve had a taste of that,
oh
you spread your full wings
take her under them
you are her clouds
you are her sun
you are her sky.
you thought you had known
the thrill of flying before
but oh, oh, oh
the adoration
thrumming through you
you are soaring.
it feels like that first time
all over again
borne aloft by your own
willpower and engineering.
the wind rushed through you
and the heady knowledge that
you did this.
and everyone would know it was
you
who tamed the
laws of this world
to carry you
wherever you wished.
she looks at you and
she is yours and
she is beautiful.
II.
you’ve been gliding
on this new high
for years now, the spark
in her eyes
when she looks at you
only lifting you
higher and higher,
when she finds
a kid of her own
sky in her eyes
and wind in her hair,
brown,
same as hers,
same as yours.
your darling’s eyes
are more often turned
toward her own
these days, but that’s alright.
you have gathered
enough others by now
to keep you aloft
with their praise,
their love,
their belief.
you ride the current
ever higher,
never looking down,
knowing she is right
behind you.
you only realize
too late
that she is not.
sky-eyed girl,
she bit off more
than she could chew.
there’s nothing you can do
for the kid, you
tell yourself,
as you
throw yourself
into a dive
you slice
through the clouds
after your girl
because you
cannot bear
to see her
fall.
you catch her.
she is whole.
if her eyes have dimmed,
you pretend
not to notice.
no time for it,
anyway.
you have to keep
moving.
keep ahead.
keep your gaze skyward.
III.
the bearer of your legacy
is a girl
you’ve watched grow
from the infant
you held
on the deck of your ship
as you set off once again
to take the world by storm.
she is returned to you now,
come into herself,
curious and
wondrous and
strong.
her brown hair
blows behind her
in the wind, standing
on the deck of
your ship
raised on the stories of
your exploits
stars in her eyes at
the sight of
you.
she is yours
and you are so proud.
she is precious
in a way
no one has
been to you
before.
she will fly
under your wing
and she will lift
you up to greater
heights than ever
before.
it will be the
two of you
on high.
just once,
you glance back
certain you’ll find her
one step behind you,
eager
to follow.
your wings miss a beat
as you find
that she is not.
and you cannot comprehend
that her gaze
her light
is turned toward
another.
your first, whom
you left behind
when she let herself go
spiraling to the ground
as you set your sights
ever higher.
you do not
understand.
there is nothing
she has done
that you have not.
you have flown
higher
longer
with more
gut and whimsy and
reckless abandon.
no one has tamed the wind
as you have.
no name as
revered
as yours.
but her eyes are
no longer on you.
you have spent lifetimes
in motion
feet never touching
the ground.
you cannot afford to slow.
but now,
for the first time
you can remember,
you falter.