My neck remembers the weight of the stone,
How shoulders bent beneath Sisyphean days,
While vertebrae compressed to atone
For dreams that wandered from prescribed ways.
They offered rest: a coffin-narrow bed
Where I could sleep if I would just conform—
A capsule for the compliant living-dead,
Safe shelter from tomorrow's bitter scorn.
So I broke free, only to find the sky
An endless ocean with no place to land,
A solo bird with wings too weak to fly,
Lost in the vertigo I'd never planned.
But look—we are a flock that seeks the warm,
Taking turns to break the wind's cruel bite,
While others ride our slipstream till they're born,
Guiding each other toward a kinder light.
We huddle close like penguins in the snow
Who learned to say "the cold never bothered me"
Not from indifference, but because we know
That warmth is shared, that comfort comes for free.
Don't be shy—we are one and we are many,
Fight back from lone wolf myths that keep us small.
The village waits with warmth and love aplenty:
Come spread your wings. We've room for one wing more.