Waxen Wings

I’m thinking
of how birds
came from dinosaurs
and how you had feathers before me
in every Icarus dream

I'm thinking
of how to adore you
adorn you with crowns
of tinsel and leaves
shimmering things
I'll find like a crow

I'm thinking of how you listen
with your hands
as my body spells secrets
into your palms
like steam in a jungle
where panthers still roam

I've been thinking
of all the ways
to awaken
in a thousand new places
that still feel like home

how easy eggs crack
how time heals all bones

I'm thinking of how Eve
came from Adam
from marrow growing
in a cage of ribs
how fireflies evolved
into glowing
to find each other
in twilight's dim

I'm thinking of distance in miles,
molecules
and sand
the coastline I grew up on
a place I long to stand

I'm thinking of what it takes
to be a predator
hungry to prey on the living
and thinking how easy it is
to go down swinging
trying to get forgiven

how horses clomp
on pounded ground
where men have never stood
how I learned to say goodbye
to things I never thought I would

I'm thinking how 'I love you'
should be a pledge
of truth and joy
how my world got turned upside down
from the smile of a boy

I'm thinking of how dinosaurs
came from eggs
and which one happened first
of drowning in a cup of water
or surrounded by ocean
dying of thirst

I'm thinking how feathers
are the softest protection
and how much of that I need
how you grew feathers before me
in every Icarus dream

and caught me falling fast
like a bird I've never seen.