Awakening

A few years ago a man to me did tell,
a most unusual and mythical tale

'Twas of and about a simple boy,
who grew up and learned of a profound and great joy

The lesson was granted through great and terrible pain,
but the rewards and joy, so fierce, he could never abstain

The tale was of a strapping young lad who many felt was strange, heretical and more than a bit odd,
He preferred the night, and bowed to no God

The townsfolk, they spoke,
They said: Repent! Confess! Submit to His holy word and you will rejoice!
He, however, took that grey speak as naught but a jest.

On that night, that strange and frightening night,
That, dear readers, his life to the skies in a figurative and literal flight,

The change began as he relaxed atop his favorite hill,
His mind on the odd reasons for the hunters need to kill

The moon crested low,
it's color a fain ethereal silver glow

And he loved its feel upon his skin

He watched as that crescents edge rise so high,
He stood there never moving, never letting it leave his eye

The time came,
in no uncertain terms was the debilitating pain,
For his arms had begun to grow

His hands expanded, while his face was impacted,
for he fell over from legs much too long

His screams came and went, traveling far and wide,
He tried to call for help, but his stretching jaws only managed a sharp yelp,
as they grew long and wide

The pain moved into his spine,
it grew and stretched that, thick bone line

His skin would split, stretched so taught,
He would lay there, on his side, curved like a bow,
His clothes fell away, all the while his body continued to grow

Layers of skin fell from his flesh,
while thick fur rose within its own quest

His fingers stretched and grew as they reached to the stars,
the skin soon followed, and in the end it would take him far

Then the changes stopped, they suddenly halted,
He would lay there warped, twisted, and wondering what was going on before, once more, the pain went and started

The bones had reshaped, the rest soon to follow,
muscles rippled and grew, the skin spread and the organs followed,
and then, no longer did he feel so hollow

He lay there now, panting and breathing,
in his mind, through the pain, thoughts began to start seeping

Sounds, once gone, now returned; so many, so loud, such harmonious ringing;
to he though, he knew strange music, as if the animals and world were singing

Lifting his arm he received a shock!
He had not a hand, but a bats wing, and an elbow that could lock

Fear confused Him,
And fear infused Him

He couldn't believe what he did see

Surging to his feet he ran, ran, ran,
Fear propelled him to try and escape,
Try and escape the beast and find the man

He soon was lost and what he could not find,
Was what the others said the kind of man he should be within his own mind

Suddenly he stopped, suddenly still,
He stretched up tall, relaxing at the crest of a small hill

His eyes then closed, His heart then slowed,
His ears were perked, His wings he lifted,
Deep breaths were the screen through that his thoughts were sifted

The man relaxed, as felt his new environ; an idea came, crazy and new,
He might be the first to have or try it, or at least one of a special few

He flexed his wings, He looked up high,
Maybe, just maybe, he could fly?

Maybe he could, at the least he should try,
His mind, bone and blood; they screamed, nay burned!, for the sky

But could he do it?
Could a simple man be so bold, and dare reach so high?
Would he need the beast, would the man be enough?
This task, he knew, would be extremely tough

He looked around the hill upon he stood,
Hmmm, needing to be higher, he moved to climb a tree, claws easily gripping the wood

He didn’t look back, he simply leapt off,
The newfound strength of his body carrying him far aloft

Desperately flapping, wildly falling, the earth herself, to him, she was calling

Fighting, waring, man vs. beast,
He knew not what to do, not in the least

Fear consumed the once boy, now man, yet again,
His mind had frozen, paralyzed and then

His body, on its own, moved, landing with ease,
The fall absorbed in great flexing of elbows and knees

The mind of man remained frozen; his sense of self was stuck,
The bat then took over, taking control as fast as lighting, escaping whence it struck

He moved and darted, his feet, the ground, were swiftly parted

He watched from behind how own eyes, as the bat then climbed a tree so tall,
But he knew no fear, knew that the bat would never fall

Reaching the top it crouched on a limb,
Its power, strangely, coming from within him

With a shriek and a leap he witnessed it all,
Disbelief raged, within him, against the sensations he felt,
Both he and the beast let their joy be heard with voices new call

Two minds rejoiced as they shoved through the air,
Moving as a bat, not bird,
And they both shared and saw the world through everything they heard

Through the rest of that glorious night they flew, two minds as one,
The land bound man quickly addicted, and finding flight fun

The tale now ends, the curtain must fall,
A simple story about a boy turned man by defying mans self decided law

The townsfolk saw the change,
He, once a boy, now man, seemed ever more strange

He worked the night, and watched all quietly true,
Their stares he returned, and his steady gaze would bore right through

Each night he would take to the air and all would hear his cries,
His joy, his passion for having taken to the skies

To this story there is no moral, no point, nor ending reason,
Just another wondrous tale for this mystical season.

Read on.