from the heavens above slips a fallen angel:
one whose gently feathered wings decussate,
one who lovingly mothers notes at her fingertips.
she clenches her fists, sets her jaw, and tastes the jeers.
she hungers for redemption.

imminent, beautiful failure proves undaunting
for as the future beholds the horizons,
her heart remains resolute.
though scorned by passion, she craves
glory and recognition, however perilous the pathway.

but unrequited love bothers her not,
for she knows it blows by
like friends, like clouds, like brothers.
she grazes her lips against poppies set aflame
by the burning touch of her own desire.

silent tears profess dangerous desire,
rearing despair locked away in the heart.
salty tracks burn the aggrieved scars of displaced wings.
unblinking, cattish eyes betray nothing,
but her whiskers twitch when she lies.

she yearns to soar again--
to take wing, to glide through the air
arms outstretched, fingers skimming blueness.
what she would give for another chance
to mend the scars she wrought.

but alas, blown from the heavens--
broken from paradise--
cursed to wither on earth, to carry
bruised cheeks and lashes heavy,
she revels in the fall,

flightless, but not fearful.