Flying
By Max Ride
Flying is the most wonderful thing imaginable.
You go outside, feel a breathy draft caressing your face,
Tangling your hair.
Then, you step off the ledge into nothing,
And you're falling,
Out of control,
At the mercy of the wind and the ground below.
Your wings snap open,
Whoosh,
A life-saving sound.
These extensions of you are the only things
Between you and the unforgiving ground.
The muscles and bones must be strong enough,
Or you become splatter art.
You flap hard, because while snapping open your wings
Slowed you down some,
It didn't keep gravity off your back for long.
Your wings cut the air like an aerodynamic speedboat
Zipping through the crest of a wave.
Slowly, you rise, and catch an air current, letting you glide along
Next to your husband, daughter, and siblings,
Because the only thing better than flying
Is flying with the ones you love.