The Imaginary Fable Of The One-Legged Flamingo

Dark Matter

Originally posted 12/30/2014.

Pretend there’s a fable
about a flamingo born
with one and only one leg.

Pretend this bird somehow survives
the vagaries of indifferent
and unrelenting nature
and becomes an adult.

Pretend few ever get close enough
to offer the bird solace or support —
after all, from a distance
no one would be able to tell
the bird was born missing a leg.

Pretend a one-legged flamingo,
unable by definition to switch
to its other leg when
it grows tired of standing still,
must fly more often 
than its counterparts.

Pretend it’s not at all farfetched
that such a bird could truly survive. 

Pretend the fable has a moral:

to those from whom much is taken
much is also given,
or

unending fatigue in living may draw out
an urge and capacity to soar,
or

perspective and vision may come to one
as compensation for grievous wounds.

Pretend that it…

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