Gone

I glanced out the moving window,
Saw the pale leaves glittering in the wintry sunlight.
My mind raced with the wind screaming silently
Over the metal monster, my cage.
Out of the gold leviathan I flew, my immature heart
Singing like the robin whose claws gripped the wire
High above my featherless wings.
My hearing failed and my nose and hands closed
Themselves to the steaming stench of reality.
I lifted myself above the clouds to watch the yellow caterpillar
Churning dust and gravel beneath its ebony underbelly.
From so far away it inched along so slowly,
But I felt the jolt as the gravel shifted to the asphalt river.
My wings failed and my senses returned.
I noticed how long I'd been gone,
And how much longer I had to wait to truly be back.