Hand pressed against the glass

Not as cold as the world

But ice to the touch

White luminous clouds overhead

Always taunting and inviting

Seeming just within reach

At least up high

But never to be so

No building has ever reached the clouds

No one has ever reached the clouds

Yet everyone knows the feeling

To soar above the clouds

The hand on the glass knew it was soaring

But now it felt like it was falling

Busy and disruptive is the world on one side

Constant beepers

Unruly conversation

Ludicrous deadlines

Crushing anxiety

Stomping of feet

Sometimes pounding

Dragging of tails

Rotten meals

Failed air fresheners

Too much perfume

Pools of sweat

Another batch of fresh paper

Glossed over keyboards

Yet a sheet of glass away is another world

Somehow a single sheet of glass separates two worlds

So fragile and weak

One simple push to escape into the other side

The grandiose sky

Endless quiet skytops

Trees with leaves blowing

Calling out for someone to come

The grass doing the same with all its might

Like a choir calling out, they entice

The clean air moving through the body

Taking out everything and filling it with nothing

How could one not wish to go beyond the glass?

If only for a moment it would all be there

And never again would one be on this side

A bird makes the first plunge

Never before had a bird been seen to jump

Yet so it did

Shooting to the ground to embrace the leaves and the breeze

When suddenly it stops

Flying back up high it sees the hand pressed on the glass

It’s right wing the one it favors as it looks over the hand

Is it trying to fly?

It would ask itself

The feathers had a damp look about them

Like long ago they fell in water

But it rose back up

Never cleaned off but dried from the sun

Flying back to its nest, up by the clouds

It’s wing dragging it down

But still gaining height

Never to plunge down below

Only to fly back up

It left

Back to its life

The hand does the same

Leaving an impression on the glass

A constant reminder it was there

That it looked at the land and the air

With criminal intent

A reminder

That it was human

That it was upset and angry

That it wanted to crush the glass

That it wanted justice

That it felt the hate

That it wanted the world end

That life had no more meaning

That no good could ever happen again

But it left the glass and the sky and the air and the clouds

Not because the one world seemed so appealing

But because the other seemed too appalling

The two worlds could not be that different

A sheet of glass could not divide two opposites

After all it was just a sheet of glass

The hand was stronger

And it chose to go away

Returning to packing and to leaving

To displeasure and pain

To hatred and sorrow

To the man who took it all

To the gritting of teeth

To the dryness of mouth

To find a new nest

To soar above the sky

To look to the other side longingly no more

But to make the world more ideal

And maybe, just maybe to soar above the clouds once more