Set me Free, II

The tethered falcon slipped her hood and ankle restraints
looking back at her master as

she took full measure of his pain last night along a foggy stretch of I-5 between Tacoma and Seattle.


Sharp-eyed,

yet reluctant to take the leap off his arm, she waited as was her wont for his signal, his command

In one long agonizingly painful moment,
realizing he had turned away because her weight on his arm was too great

her fetters had slipped, she was free to go

his heart was not into it; his hand signals confusing

she, in her sadness and confusion felt left behind.

Her truth had been painfully revealed and it was too much for them both.




With one tentative leap today she takes flight

arcing into that great unknown void bereft of all the juicy thrills and adventures she knew with him

his friendship, his fire, his solidness

while her heart shudders in fear, her spirit looks to the universe beyond, as slowly, her wings, stiff from ten months of rest, begin their cadence.



I will love and miss him for a long, long time.