With arms full of sheet music
I flounce along the flowered path
past shimmering wind chimes and statuettes
to the back door of my voice teacher's house.
This is where I learn to fly.
Week after week I stretch my vocal chords
past their limits and farther than before
until I hit that one glimmering note
or nail that tricky arpeggio.
Like a bird soaring effortlessly
cutting through the wind at great speed,
being lifted by the air alone,
my voice leaves my body,
carried along by the breath in my lungs.
I, like the bird,
float and glide over legato verses
and swoop to hit staccatos.
As the song ends,
and the bird lands to perch on a branch,
I regain my breath
stretch out my wings
and move on to the next song.