Elijah

Elijah was a raven that had been held
In the prison of captivity his whole life
Dying for a chance to spread his wings
And tour the world in aimless flight

For he had been trapped in a nightmare
Ambushed by flashbacks of a violent history
He had survived even the darkest stages of life
Although the secret was his own personal mystery

At the time there was nothing
That his hopeless heart could do
A life of solitary confinement
Was the only life that he knew?

Until one day the owner
Removed him from his cage
Placing him upon a perch
While cleaning it with rage

Completely unaware that
He had left the window ajar
Allowing the crispy, winter breeze
To intrude from miles afar

Seeing this opportunity as
His only chance to escape
Elijah rose from his perch
Freedom lying in his wake

Elijah flew as far as
His little, black wings could go
The beauty of freedom
He was quite desperate to know

For he had only known of a life
So torturous and so cold
Abandonment delivered in abundance
A tale too brutal to be told

Endless nights of peril
Unwanted memories of abuse
Triggering numerous reminders
Of pain aggressively acute

With everything fading into
A tragic scenery of black and white
Darkness continues to manifest
The tunnel is closing no more light

As Elijah was flying the wind
Grew viciously unbearable
Crawling underneath his skin
Deep within he felt terrible

A blizzard was approaching
Falling heavily from the sky
With a vengeance so fierce
It could make roses cry

As the blizzard grew stronger
Elijah's little black wings grew weaker
He couldn't fly another mile
The chill beneath his wings grew deeper

As a result he was knocked unconscious
And straight to the ground he fell
Shattering his wings completely
Leaving him helplessly frail

There in the blistering chill
Of the snow he lied
Not moving an inch
For he was now paralyzed

By Glenn McCrary


© 2011 Glenn McCrary (All rights reserved)