Spasmodic, unsteady, but the beat still sings.

Passing grasses, hues of light

and dark slide easily by, as if to say “go on”.

Uneven strides, but they find the rhythm of this heart.

Storm clouds gather, thunder horses in their own right,

as the grasses hold fast, crying “slow down.”

Feel their desperation, but not the need. Away I go.

Almost to the edge, the area where all life ends

or perhaps transforms to that which we can’t detect.

Heart falters a beat; the grasses steadfast.

Yet the song sings free. I can’t stop now.

At the edge; one moment for indecision…

and I soar.

--

Flying on Uneven Strides

Alone again but that’s fine by me. I was never much of a people person and I could never explain quite why. Maybe it was the way they chattered about trivial things. Or perhaps it was the blank stare they always seemed to have in their eyes. People gave me many explanations; I just liked to be alone.

So another day found me running through the woods behind my home. The smell of the crisp air did wonders on my asthmatic lungs. The doctors said I would never be much of a runner, I say anything is possible.

Then the thick abundance of trees ended, giving way to rolling meadows filled with tall grasses. Flowers the colors of day and night coexisted in harmony. It’s amazing how such opposites can live and grow together under the same sky. I suppose underneath everything is the same.

Oh how I loved to run through this meadow. It was just me listening to the uneven pounding of my steps as I tread awkwardly upon uneven footing. Yet the pattern clung to me like a cherished childhood lullaby. Somehow those uneven footfalls blended with the pounding of my heart and sharp intake of breath to create the most soothing melody. It was a song that made me come alive. The way my hair softly hit my back with each stride I took, the way the dew clung desperately to the bottom of my ankles, soaking my feet- I felt truly alive here. It was as if I wasn’t alone, I was with the trees and the flowers and the birds and rabbits, all living together underneath the starry sky in harmony.

The tall grasses gently slipped by me, letting me go with a gentle hush. I could almost hear them whispering “run, run.” Run I did. The storm clouds gathered above me, blocking out the ever bright stars. They came in like horses, rolling and thundering across the endless plain. The heavens began to water its dear child Earth, and I drank my fill, letting the water wash down my face and cleanse me of everything that had ever held me back. I was reborn, running there and then in the rain.

The grasses, they hung on more tightly now as if reluctant to let go of a cherished friend. Or perhaps they were like parents unwilling to say goodbye to their child as they left to find themselves. The message changed into urgent murmurs warning, “Slow down.” They did not know that I was already hooked, spellbound, in complete rapture. The song still coursed strongly through my veins; a song of my own creation. I was too selfish to stop now. I desperately wanted the song to continue on and never end, and so I ran.

There, I saw what my friends had warned me of all along. An alert went off in the back of my mind, a slow, dull warning as if the order did not want to be heeded. I suppose it was caught up in the song too. It was the edge; the ending of the known. Some said it was where life ended, but perhaps life merely transformed into something we had never imagined possible. Curiosity and that uneven, soothing song coursed through my body. I had only one moment for indecision. I leapt, for the sake of the song, for the sake of curiosity, for the sake of me. And I soared…