Who is this clipped wing climber, clinging, caught in singular thought, exploring the mystery above, mourning morning\'s misery below, reaching, ascending, life depending---on wit, not to slip, wielding incredible strength of will, risking the untenable, puzzling the skeptical, enlightening the unconscious, baffling the despicable, as he rises higher, exposing not only the path to liberty but the selfishness of sovereign design, denying independence of mind, freedom to climb, to fly only to die an indignant death, devil divined in the dank darkness below. Bows aligned to arrow the ascender, synchronized flights of sharp, steel shafts from skilled archers searching, sighting their mark. Slowed slightly by dodging the salvo battery barrage, soaring upward to plateau, sighing, smiling, scaling the height, surprised at the newly feathered tufted pinions readied for flight in this new dominion of light. Unshackled, armed with choice, whom now to serve?
Augustus / Seasons Hospice, Houston, TX / June 2017