Cliffside

Chilled gusts
Rebounding off the rocky wall
Envelop me
Sending the salt of timeless oceans
Tingling over tightened skin
Below
The tides of hearts desire
Crash upon the shores of circumstance.

I am
Cliffside

Standing at the precipice
That divides
All that is
From all that might be ...

I do not know if I have wings.

Were I to spread my arms and leap into the sky,
Would I fall, or, God permit, I fly?

I do not know what lies beyond the ocean blue
Or if to try would be the gravest err
My heart alone says "go", and yet I wish I knew,
In going what I might find waiting there.

And indecision hovers like a gull
That beats its wings forever 'gainst the wall.

Chilled gusts
Rebounding off the rocky wall
Remind me
Land is where I ought to be
Standing upon a firm establishment
(Looking out over waters I shall never know)
Watching the sun set over a horizon of maybe's

I am
Cliffside

Standing at the precipice
That divides
All that is
From all that might be ...

I do not know if I have wings.

And yet, with trembling knees of hope and fear,
I set one foot upon the ledge,
I close my eyes and, whispering a prayer,
With the other foot step o'er the edge