Fly away, little bird

You were a little bird once

a chick

fluffy and begging for food

now you're all grown up

now you're learning to feed yourself

now your stretching your wings

practicing your landings and takeoffs

someday you're going to fly out of this nest for once and for all

someday you're going to be only a silhouette of yourself on the fading sunlight

someday you'll leave and start your own life

and I don't want this nest to be a cage for you

I want you to remember me fondly

to thank my raising you when you get a Nobel prize

it warms me to see you growing up

branching off from this tree

budding relationships flowering into friendships that could seriously last

but it also chills me

without your presence comforting me at night

knowing that you're home here and safe

when you'll be off in the world changing things

world peace rising from your falling feathers

climate change dissolving against your calls

awe and appreciation and happiness following your paths through the sky

looping and soaring and spinning

finally free from the chains that once held you down

the chains I taught you to break

to crush

to toss to the ground

rising up

up

up

into all of the possibilities that come with your existence

fly away, little bird

grow and change with every flap of your strong wings

you have been given the glory of a stormless sky

a glorious future.