void in aimless flight—redux

across the sky, a jagged V of birds,

black and nameless, soar together

in relative unison. the breeze

carries them along. i always

envied the way birds like these

simply open up their arms and

can let the world take them anywhere.

no words are spoken, no communication needed.

they know where they're going,

all the way to the end. nothing's

holding them back.

they exit the frame, and my eyes look

down a little and i am crestfallen. there

is another bird, fewer feathers on its wings.

it is a ways behind the pack, trying desperately

to catch up or at least keep up. but the winds

have shifted against it, and the bird flaps with

such vigor to overcome this. it stays in place,

then drifts back, back, until it falters.

the sun hides behind a long stretch

of bleak grey clouds. the bird drifts 

downwards, along a current whose 

terminus seems to be the ground.

god—who can say what happens

to these, the least of us,

when we are left all

  o

 l  n

a     e

  ?