A Letter To Heal

Piece by Tanya Aurora

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Dear bird,

Your voice—a spellbinding lullaby to every restless baby—flows like a river at the funeral of glee, yet drowns in the tears of sorrow’s birth. In time, you thought that the ocean swallowed your songs, drinking them as it watched you pecking at the door, but those songs always carried you at every flutter in the sky, from sunset to dawn. Later, your wings tore apart, and the wind only drew your siblings forward; still, you toiled to fly, yet your breath became too frail for sound, turning your songs into raspy whispers. Now, silently, your voice rains across the city, the country, the star-strewn sky, and you slide across the puddles, dancing in the splashes of your calls. You may not believe it, but I promise your siblings, too, skate across the puddles, sing along to your tunes, and listen to every note you left behind. They just fly too far ahead to sing with you.

Lovingly,

The bird herself