Wings

"First you jump off the cliff and you
build your wings on the way down"
Ray Bradbury


I, by the brink so terrible;
pause before I leap,
behind lies all of comfort –
ahead, the abyss deep.
My arms are full of feathers,
I have some balls of twine
plus a pair of good brass hinges
to attach these wings of mine.
The wings will go together
as I tumble through the air.
They'll swing out from my shoulders,
they'll be wings without compare;
I'm beautifully organised,
have thought of everything -
soon I as Daedalus will fly;
my fetters loosed like severed string.

I leap from life out into life,
for having leapt this cliff should I
through all the future years of strife
recoil in fear from anything?