Kite Prayer

Long now I have loved the ground,
Its bitter soil, its calming pull,
But it was not always so.
Long ago, I soared on high,
Winged, I climbed the heights of sky,
Then like Icarus I dreamed too far,
And untethered touched the blinding fire,
Then burning fell, a flaming pyre. 

To hug the earth is good, to know the dirt;
To fly is glory too– I know not how. 
To soar myself into the sky would be to burn,
So I have learned to touch the ground,
To love its rhythm, its ancient sound.
Yet, still I know the dream, the song
Of singing wind, of sweeping height
The upward thrust of glorious flight.

So, God, I pray, make me a kite 
Flung headlong into glory wild,
Singing in your shouting wind,
But tethered firm; oh, let me fly
Through breathless sanctity of sky!
I would not flee, I would not cower–
Stake me now to firm brown sod,
And let me soar, oh Wind of God!

(Explanation for the “buy me a coffee” button. Substack has a paid subscription option and there are some people who have pledged their support if I would turn on that option. While I don’t want to sell my work short, I have not dredged up the courage or the gumption or the audacity or whatever the word is to turn on that function. Perhaps it is the Amish part of me that feels like I shouldn’t promote myself or ask to be paid for something that I feel grateful that people actually read, or perhaps it is because if I turned it on, I would feel pressure to consistently write really good stuff since there are people paying for it. And then I would be writing for different reasons than I want to. Whatever the reason, I am not yet turning on that function, but I am giving the option for buying me a coffee if you want to support my work.)