Challenge to the Wind

Give me release.
No time like now to purge.
Anger can close the wound a little,
Let the adrenaline clot the pulse.

Suffocation. Why do you carry that cloth?
Other doesn't know. The cloth has not place.
I need wings. Wings to escape.

The sky calls me.
I must fly away.
See the branch. The branch atop the peak.
What a perch! Ah, what a perch it would be.
To look upon my world and see the beauty.
My eyes alone to see through me to what I am inside.
From here, I will shine.

When the wind beckons me, I will open.
Glide to where the Creator nests for me.
There will He feed me what I need
To return again to my perch, stronger.

If Another With Wings believes he can soar alongside,
Let him wait: show me his mettle and strength.
No longer will I return to the ground,
Among the Creepers, Attackers, and Wingless.

May my nestmates keep my head high.
Lest I long again for the brightly colored Hollow,
Waving his feathers in display yards below.
May my screeches ring through the air.
While weak at first, they grow bold.

Fights among the clouds end with rewards.
Though I may lose my claws, Creator,
Never take from me my eyes.
Pray, never take my eyes.
I will learn to turn.

The air is so clean, clear, and blue.
I can see far; did you know there was a sea there?
Now, I can find where I feel myself.
The wind rustles through my feathers and me.
Sometimes it sighs, sometimes it pushes hard.
Sometimes it moans, sometimes it cries.
And yes, sometimes it dies. What then?

I have wings; I do not have to fall.
Forever flapping, it isn't easy.
But I am a Winged One; easy lives aren't for me.
So die, wind, I dare you.