Draft in the author’s style. This poem was written for Poet of Uplift to sit beside the author’s own readings, and is waiting for the author’s review. The commentary is a working draft too.
They say that dreamers have wings, but I say that wings are made,
By the feathers that we gather from the effort we have laid.
Each morning that I show up is a feather for the flight,
And each lesson that I learn is a feather, soft and light.
I do not have them yet, and my back is bare and plain,
But I feel the feathers growing through the sunshine and the rain.
The doubters see a walker, with two feet upon the ground,
But they cannot see the wings that are growing without sound.
One day I'll stand upon the cliff, and I'll spread my wings so wide,
And I'll leap into the morning, and the wind will be my guide.
So build your wings with patience, and with every step you take,
For the sky belongs to the ones who are willing to stay awake.
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Commentary
Wings are not given, they are grown, says this poem. Each act of effort adds one feather, and one day the dreamer will be ready to leap.
“They say that dreamers have wings, but I say that wings are made, by the feathers that we gather from the effort we have laid.” “Each morning that I show up is a feather for the flight, and each lesson that I learn is a feather, soft and light.” The speaker does not have them yet, and “my back is bare and plain.”
But the speaker says, “I feel the feathers growing through the sunshine and the rain.” “The doubters see a walker,” but “cannot see the wings that are growing without sound.” One day the speaker will “spread my wings so wide” and leap. The poem ends, “the sky belongs to the ones who are willing to stay awake.”