De-Mentia
This trope a backwards living.
Such signage eases grace.
Un-becoming what you’ve been.
The falling of the face
it took decades to grow into.
It takes knowing who you are
before you start forgetting
what you’ve come here for.
The letting go a talent.
The carelessness a skill.
You’ll never miss your self.
The others will.
Unfallen
“I was happy, happy, happy, happy, happy!”
Philippe Petit upon completing his high-wire walk
between the Twin Towers, August 4th, 1974
The day he tossed his line across
and tricked heaven
was not a day like all his other days.
Walking tight along the wire
he kissed the World’s abyss,
charmed the wind into thinking
he had wings he could ride
if his ordinary legs should fail.
He asked the sun to hide its eye
so the eyes in the canyon looking
up could see him against the sky.
So a young god eclipsed
an old for an hour,
less than a sixth
of one day’s rise.
No one would remember
the weather that day.
All they would recall is the fall
the small man dared and delayed,
how the towers swayed,
and after his mad dance
how still they stayed.