Breathless

In a single moment of faith I step,

Tossing both fear and doubt to the wind.

My eyes are locked shut,

Tighter than ever before,

As I fall.

But open wide is my soul,

Stripped bare by the rushing of air,

Which consumes me in a mist of both fright

And delight.

My first foray from above,

From that net of safety,

That nest,

Where before I, in security, slept,

Though not just in the night.

Whether haven or prison

I know not,

But that I have left,

Or escaped,

Loosed on the world with not just fear

But freedom.

I fall and I plummet,

I twist and I writhe,

I flail and I flap,

Yet as I stare death straight in the eyes,

I know I’m alive.

I care not that I flounder,

Nor that I am scared,

For as the jaws of death close over me,

I breathe for the first time.

Determined, I expand,

Breaking both the vice-grip of fear

And the devil’s mandible,

For death will not taste of me,

Yet.

Inches from crashing,

From losing my life,

I have found the very thing I’ve been searching for,

Yearning for.

Death is my first friend, for without him,

I would not have come upon this…

My limbs have never stretched so far,

My bones never felt so vast,

As I climb,

And climb,

And climb.

Never before have I felt this feeling,

To soar,

To regally spread over all the earth,

To fear, to feel, and to fly.

Toward the scent of life I make way,

Wings and soul filled the same,

By the wind.

Over wet cliffs and

Rocky crags I scream,

Filling the river valley with a breath,

With majesty.

To the falls I soar,

Banking sharply at their breast,

Glistening,

Marveling,

In their mist.

Drawn in by their waters,

Lured by the refreshing breath

They breathe,

I descend.

But as I fall into rhythm

With these falls,

I find, once again,

That I’m falling, too.

Enshrouded by their mist, I fall,

And it’s as if time has slowed,

Just for me,

To allow me this moment of extended breath,

Before again I find myself

Breathless.