Pilot Alpha

Everyone in the nest eventually gets pushed out
And learns what it's like to finally fall down
And we wonder around from town to town
Feeling the winds pick up and gusts draft down
But we most never leave the ground we tread
Some don't even take a peek upward
And their eyes are stuck instead
Inside their face - straight out from their head
Pointed at the dirt - slowly dropping what they believe they're worth
They're docked on the floor of the loose-shaking earth

There was one in the nest I was born in - apart from the rest
An egg hatched right next to my bed that slept next to my head
I watched him leave the nest when the time was right
And move on from home here
And caught him a once a while as he roamed near by
Learning what it is truly like to be outside
But as far as he ever was - he always kept by my side
Dusting my feathers - filling up my mind
Having me grow until there was a chance of mine to try
 

On a night not distant from the common evening lite
He sat me down in the nest - me on his left and I on his right
Told me that time had changed and its first delights had already flown on by
That he had walked a long road a long time
That his toes were weary and his legs getting dreary
That someday I might feel the sameness in the flesh of mine
That he'd walked in a straightly line and had never stopped try'n
And even still had come to a red brick wall
That wasn't going to move no matter what his measure of strong
That nothing necessarily wrong
But there was a turning point in the movement of his song
That the wall was so left and right long
And as tall as it could be tall
That he could stand and wait for the wall to fall
But this and no other was the option at all

On this night in words to change all our lives
He told me as time had already flown by
Now was the time to fly
That we're not gifted wings and feathers for no reason
Tethered to be grounded underneath some typical seasoned weather
That he had to scale the wall in flight and go as high as the Almighty would grant his sight
To life off this floor with all his possible might
Not to use his legs anymore
Up and over the wall through a new door
And into a brand new life
To soar

I had never tasted vinegar and honey at the same time before
As I swallowed I was filled with deeper more
Fear and pride and love and excitement
Compassion and courage and anger and peace
All together made me sore and apart ripped me torn
A real smile but real gritted teeth
But in the end a moment I'd never forget to adore
And all this soon distance would bring us closer than many and time before
And look up and love him all the more

And so at the wall he stood
With his eyes on the heavens
Ready to go where he never would

And in that
Through eyes of dew
I saw him - he who I thought I knew
Become someone to even his own - something new
With dust and dew in my eye
This again-born-bird looked up to the sky
And grew new wings
And began a-way to fly

But in the same color of an eye
Before the sun had risen high
I saw him and I
Flying together in the sky