The Weight of Flight
What is the work of inhabiting flight?
The question begs in the mechanics that make it so
In the Lift, the drag… and thrust
We dip, we land, and relaunch
The work is only one part about soaring
and would be nothing without weight
When there is scanning terra firma
for posture, for food
When there is nostalgia for touching
anything at all
There is coming down for prayer
and wishing you were here
To kneel before this
The one question, the next verse
How do we break for adoration
amid prayer - the flash of flight
Before the involuntary momentum
That lifted us in origin
That recharges organically
Is in the sensation of taking off?
Images of the Hirundus Rustica are Keane’s work @barganews
The Hirundus Rustica, La Rondine, The Barn Swallow, is the chosen symbol of Traveling Native because of its elegant flight patterns and its graceful arrival, departure, and return to a place called home.
The Barn Swallow is native in all biogeographic regions except for Australia and Antartica. It is the sign of spring in Italy as the swallows migrate north from Africa in return to their nests built in former warm seasons. The Traveling Native becomes part of the scenery wherever it goes.