Feathers

by Devin C. Guzman © 2008

These feathers have thorns
Your wings
A blanket that once swaddled me
Securing me in a comforting softness
Like a love struck infant born unto you
Have me now ensnared
Helpless as a dove in the mouth of a wolf
Dispatch me or release me
Either of these freedoms better than the snare
Of baseless hope those wings cling to me with
These feathers have thorns
Your wings
Spread out and lovely that once had sheltered me
From myself and under which I took rest
In the shade of you
Catching my breath and loosing it at the same time
Now encircle and defy me to dare an escape
Mocking my feeble attempts to break free

To leave
To burn in the scorching radiant memory of you and I

Protective wings removed
To risk the journey alone
Or sit at this spot, surrounded by those very wings, now my blanket of
denial.
You are gone
Who once was my angel
My light. My hope.
I fear taking one step from your memory else everything else in me vanish
The topsoil of my soul, blown away by the fierce wind of those wings 
That now carry you away from me, and have blown me away too.
As the first time I laid eyes on you
I was blown away.
By an angel
These feathers have thorns
And yet willingly and knowingly I stroke them
Chafing my spirit against the barbs
As if my constant stroking would wear the thorns away
And bring back the silken soft surround
Of you.