Ed Ahearn on a child’s wish to fly, a man’s knowledge of being tethered to earth.

Flying

Once,
Seeming not long ago
I dreamed of flying.
Racing without resistance
Along shore cliffs and over chasms.
Brushed by tree-top branches and skyscraper flags.
Gently indifferent to the surface bustle.

But with hair and deeper voice
Came weight and fear of falling.
And more timid man-high risings
That let others pull me down.
Until I could not soar at all.

My dreams for decades
Have never been of flight,
And I am not unhappy, roped to earth.
But only hope
That my decline will free me
With an infant’s tentative movement
To play again in the sky.

***

Ed Ahern resumed writing after more than 40 years in foreign intelligence and international sales. He has published numerous poems and stories and two books. His collected fantasy and horror stories are scheduled to be published in late 2016 by Gnome on Pig Press.