They said that I would be forever limited. I knew what they were thinking, though they did not realise that I could comprehend. They could not see it otherwise, for they understood only what was in front of them. They saw the doubt in others' eyes, reflecting the fear in their own when they looked at me.They did not know what I knew and for this I felt no anger, only pity for their shadow world.
They had no concept of my true self; the graceful compulsion that belied my twisted and deformed physique. They never knew that I would fly. Yet when he came, when he stood looking down on me, I knew that he could understand. He seemed through the torture in his mind to reach to the depths of my being and to yearn for me to teach him freedom. And so, somehow, I did.
It was so tentative, that first movement towards the chasm between us, for I had little strength to move towards him in those days and he did not know how.They were even afraid that he would damage me, for his torment could fuel a fearsome rage. They hovered as anxious as any new mother, waiting to step between us, not realising that he would as soon destroy his own being as lay a harmful hand on me. Still, in waiting and hoping, we gained a wordless understanding of one another's hearts and shared, unspoken, a knowledge that we could overcome. Little by little, they realised that I was safe with him; one small step at a time they let us be.
So it was that the time came for the meeting of our strengths. I was as a breath in his muscular arms; his fragmented soul was calm in my inner serenity. And we flew. We flew, he and I, together and we were lifted above limitation, above prejudice, above our fearful solitude.
They thought that they had seen so much; had grasped with their study and their theory the essence of the world and its unfolding. They did not know; they could not know how much more there was to discover. Blind in the light of their own minds' horizons, they fumbled kindly for the truth.
In endless sunrise vistas, we soared, he and I, for we had found ourselves, our destiny and beyond. Far above them we rejoiced: together, in flight, free.
Copyright © 2008 Rob Richardson. All Rights Reserved.