A Bird in Boots

To carry such prodigious footwear
Her wings are very strong.
She is ready, just in case
Soaring ends and landing's hard.

Born of and borne by air,
The rain plays on her feathers happily as sunshine.
Through blue skies, grey clouds, and before rainbows,
she flies
As though she might be hiking the next moment,
if wings fail, or if she chooses.

Minneapolis, 2000 Fall

* * * * * * *
In 2000 fall, LK and I were living in Rochester, MN, where she did her ministerial internship. I was taking classes at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. I'd take three classes a semester: all three classes met once a week, and they all met on Thursday, for 2.5 hours per class. I wrote this one Thursday during the last class of the day. The "bird in boots" refers to the way LK would draw bird figures with little L's below (one backward) to represent the feet. It looked to me as though the bird had boots on.