Leaving the Nest

The time has come to leave the nest...
As I board this ferrous bird,
I must look back,
to my loving mother-earth,
who sadly consents
to part.

I sit bracing myself for departure,
thoughts of the nest aside.
!LIFT OFF!
I can feel my mother, earth?
clutching at me desperately.
She has changed her mind.
She tries to keep her child
from the inevitable separation.
Her invisible hands clutch at my shoulders,
but the seat holds me in.
Pushing me forward with the DC-10.

Hidden in the ROAR of the engines,
I hear my mother screaming. No? She is
crying,
releasing me from her support,
so that I may fly.
I feel the distance growing, stretching, P-U-L-L-I-N-G
until at last,
I am free to soar above a patchwork quilt of pastures
and glide among popcorn clouds.
Yet...I know that one day,
I must return.