A bird fell from the sky today…
…and it landed at my feet. She laid upside down with her limbs sprawled, outstretched, reaching. Her heart looked like it was pounding out of her chest, and I’d never seen anything so desperate. Her eyes looked so glassy staring up at me, like she wasn’t real.
I thought, “Poor thing…well, she’s not going to make it.”
I turned to the stranger next to me who was munching away at her lunch wrap and staring blankly at the bird. I said, “It’s sad. I don’t think we’ll be able to do anything for her.”
“She just fell,” the stranger said.
I nodded…
After a few more moments of staring at the bird, I pressed my hand over my heart and sighed. “Well, I suppose I ought to move her.”
I reached for the little swallow, but she was gone within the same second. She flew higher and higher and rejoined the others that she had been flying with before. I remember the sky looked so blue. The sky was endless, and she had access to all of its vastness.
He was on the other side of the window, his concentration buried in some sort of a book. I thought of him and how if he just looked up, he would see how stupid I looked as I stared up at the clouds. Yes, he could see me easily. Why, I was directly in front of him. The glare on the window, however, prevented me from seeing him.
…but I knew he was there, on the other side.
Just as I knew that he must love this other girl. Just as I knew how I didn’t miss my chance because I never had one. Just as I knew how terribly sad I had become.
I thought of how much time I had spent flying over everything, soaring on nothing but the happiness beneath my wings. But now, like the little bird who had fallen from so high, I felt pain. It had hit me so fast, and nothing could stop me from smashing against reality.
It might as well have been me laying on the cement with my limbs sprawled, outstretched, reaching. And it could have been me with my heart beating out of my chest, because I’d never felt anything so desperate. I thought of the imaginary world I’ve been living in for the past however many months. I wondered why I couldn’t be there.
But I felt hope suddenly.
I realized that the bird that had fallen from the sky so suddenly wasn’t on the ground anymore. No. She was out there, halfway through the blue, morning sky, and she was still going.
That bird may have fallen fast and out of nowhere, and she may have been hurt or stunned for a little bit, but she was fine. After a moment or two, she had flown away, letting her wings take her as far as they could.
And, well, I’m the same.
And I know I’ll be fine. I just need some time.
Then, I’ll let my wings take me as far as they can.
I’ve never believed in a greater force so much as I have believed of late. I’ve been blessed with so many signs of hope and love. Today, this really happened. That little bird really did fall from the sky, and she really did find her way back into the clouds. I know I’ll be fine. There’s so much room to grow.
