Offering

I will bow down

in order to take off,

I will dip into the slip stream,

I will rise swiftly, pulled up

by the climbing current

Each day, to do this, I will sacrifice:

I will give up my fear.

I will slip it off my neck, over my head,

I will lay it down. Thus unburdened, 

I will be ready for the updraft,

when it comes. I will stretch my arms wide

to take it in, to revel in the sheer expansiveness

of flight

I will remember:

humility is light and pliant —

it is no pain to carry,

it is so much better

than all those splintered beams,

those sharp shards,

those things I used before

to try to build myself

I bow my head

to receive this blessing,

I serve this truth

in order to be free.

©Wendy Mulhern

July 5, 2016