I have lived my life as a kite on a string —

My husband an anchor, his

stable hands holding me for so long —

My children an anchor, their

tiny hands pulling me back to them for so long– 

I have lived my life as a kite on a string —

adrift in the clouds on the breath of the wind,

careening toward storms of a blistering sun,

twisting and writhing toward a hard ground.

Battered and burned and tattered and torn —

Never understanding — Freedom.

I have lived my life as a kite on a string —

but I was a winged bird on the horizon,

no string of safety anchoring me —

only branches where I would land

to rest, laugh, cry, and play for a time

before taking flight again into home.