Lana’s Song

Lana made wings from fallen willow leaves

and tied back her long graying hair.

She intended to either fly or perish trying.

And she jumped from a sea cliff,

thinking she might be a bird when the moist air lifted her.

But then she began to fall though.

She would have fallen into waves  

flexing against stones below

had not the clouds turned into galloping horses.

Had the horses not swept in and caught her by the wings.

Had the horses not carried her into the sky.

The sky quieter than she ever dreamed possible.

—Mitchell Hegman