Work Text:
Among the night-winged murder
of crows
my wings were swiftest, my talons
most deadly.
I flew
always the black shape
that blotted out the stars. Beside
me, two others. We were carried together
for a time
on love's strange stormwinds.
Then, impossibly,
failure
betrayal
another's claws ripped my wings
and I tore hers.
I tumbled down the scatter-star sky
and I shall never fly again.
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Birds seek to flock with those
who are of their kind. What else was there
for me, who had failed to fly, than to seek
failure
and oblivion's welcome wings? An ending
under the burning sun.
If the crow, night-winged carrion bird, calls
a challenge
to the lord of the skies,
he must expect to fail. The lion's claws
will tear him, his blood will stain
the eagle's beak
and the griffon will give him peace.
This is my hope.
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Instead, his eyes
his kindness, his trust
like wind
beneath my wings.
I had forgotten.
I distrust his power
sometimes. He commands so easily – fledgling,
little griffon,
the stormwinds are too strong for such as you
and I am broken-winged.
Improbable child. I don't understand
the ice
born of so warm a heart
how, with a smile,
you remake my world.