Once, I Could Fly

[A tribute to my very favorite type of dreams in childhood, and I don't believe I'm alone in that.] Once I could fly without a plane, unconstrained by gravity and unbounded by mother earth, I would soar like a human eagle, my arms wings, my heart warm and beating notes of pure joy.... High up in the cool air I was safe, lord of all I saw as I dived and banked, rose and fell again, brushing close to ground but never touching--then pumping my winged arms to reach far above a trite, boring world whose creatures wore chains too heavy to let them fly.... Oh, how I loved that time when the child I was could fly every night in special dreams, or so it seemed...I suppose they really were not so often, those nights when I could jump off a roof or a cliff and know, and truly know I would sail free on the untamed winds--but alas... as I began to depart childhood my flying dreams grew scarce, and their glory diminished-- I would have to flap my arms, harder and harder to gain height, and even so I could barely free my body of heavy and dull earth. Then one day, one ordinary day, it was done, and I had to walk, to fly no more, no longer a god-- Yes, once I could fly, and whether it came from some dimmed memory, perhaps of heaven, or just the fruit a kid's imagination, I know not-- 60 earthbound years have passed and still I long to fly free again....