They say we are from two different worlds
one of fish,
the other of bird.
That we co-exist because we have to
and despite both worlds are blue
I'm told they won't accept me
but I don't see it like that, do you?
Why are they so myopic
seeing only fins not wings,
trying to tell me forget my dreams
always beating my spirit down.
I am hard scales
not light feathers
I am built only for water
not all weathers
that I cannot fly it goes against the grain
but in my heart I still want to
and try to ignore the pain.
They laugh, they sneer
from both sides say "come over here
and watch this fish try to fly!"
Why are they so inherently cruel
even those who say they love me ask WHY?
In that tone of indignation
of tired resignation
watching me ride the waves and leap
landing battered and bruised in a heap.
Fish weren't meant to fly.
Stay safe in the sea they sigh
and move on
thinking I will learn eventually
once my defiance has melted and gone.
They crush me, I try, I'm weak and down
how I long to feel the cloud
and ride the currents of air if it were allowed
even just for the shortest time
I can't ignore this heart of mine.
I know I'm a fish.
I don't want to be a bird,
I just want to fly.
It isn't absurd
to have ambition and a goal
to want to leave my shoal
and do something more with my life.
One special day when the boats come
and my kin are panicked and screamRUN
I will ride the wake and the waves there
launch myself into the air
and try, try, over again
it won't always be a disaster
nor always the same
I will succeed.
I shall be a flying fish
and they have to concede
perhaps we can cross the divide
and on that day
on the incoming tide
I will be swimming the air
flying the seas,
showing them all I'm not a disease
some freak of nature.
I'm just me, a fish, stay sure
of your self belief, stay fixed
and don't let them convince you
fish cannot fly
birds cannot swim
just listen
to what YOU feel within.
You are divine.




© .Garry Saunders