Precariously perched,

Bright new wings unfurled,

Her wretched screaming slowed,

Still at her past Is hurled;

And round the fragile stem of life

Her feeble feet are curled,

“I cannot save you from yourself,

   I recognize the plea;

  For many years I heard the cry

  Yet I could not save me.

  Now here I stand with heart in hand,

  The child is finally free.”

Light blinds her temporarily,

She’s startled by the noise;

Walking slowly to the edge

Though in her pain is poised,

To take to flight across the sky,

Embracing future joys.

Copyright  2020.     L.L.  Shelton.