Birds on the Runway

A thin veil, a cloudy sky,
The flutter of settling wings,
Birds that stall our progress,
Like mice and lice and other little things,
Strange mix of phobia and respect,
Welds us to a past we loathe,
And yet they wait for us,
Those smiling faces on the other side,
Forever waiting, forever smiling
Forever hoping and keeping faith,
Sketching the good times to come,
How could we let them down ?
How could we mothball our dusty engines ?
We scatterers of the birds,
We clearers of the mist,
When will we change our minds,
And honour our forgotten selves ?
When will we stop using our past learning
As the light to guide us now ?

(This poem was inspired by looking out of a plane window as it taxied down the runway and seeing how a huge flock of birds suddenly took off from the concrete as the plane fired up its engines. It is a metaphor for all the 'little things' that can get in the way of us fulfilling our potential. So many excuses for not unleashing our true selves. Why do we do this? Because we are 'welded to a past we loathe'. Yet we know there are people who have fulfilled their potential, we know how happy it has made them and we know they believe we could do the same. The poem challenges the reader to start to move forward, to 'clear the mist', to 'scatter the birds'. The last two lines are taken from the book 'A Course in Miracles' , they challenge the limiting belief that past experience is the best guide to future possibilities.)