Pearl You Cannot Keep [Poem]

I am a fish who has learned to fly
I am forever changed
Let go your teeth
I cannot take you on my back
Your gills would only dry and crack
and it looks so far down from up there
The summer sun you idolize
would only burn
if you get too close
and the clouds are not sufficient rain for fins
you must have wings for sky things
let go
let go and swim
some things were meant to be so
I am weary of bringing hail and leaves for you to see
and the soot shores that turn my feathers black
are spent and will fall away beneath me
I will not be held any longer by time and tide
I am not of sea, but made of flight
so turn eye and tail
return to the deep
I am the pearl you cannot keep

From the book "Being" by Amber Jade
Copyright 2000 Amber Jade