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I saw a bird fall from the rooftops
A poem by Uma Mei Jacklin
and fate touched it, flying.
Please, turn and centre with the stars. It’s an illusion,
you’re not falling, you’re not dying.
Listen, the ground doesn’t want to take you.
I want to
place a gilded crown of vine upon your
head, let it twist around your spine.
Lock into you, cushion the fall. Freeze.
The light you were trying to reach, it speckles you.
Does it laugh? Mourn? It cannot cry.
Align a moment, feel the loss.
I do.
Residue on your wings, it seeps down.
Heart up, eyes closed – not far now.
I dread the dull thud
of your release.
Tears fall one by one,
such dutiful soldiers.
People avert their own eyes in respect
and I fall apart.
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