A "Higher Education"

A “Higher Education”
By: Aiden Ray

Towards cafés, the music ushers me –
Where tables sit undressed. Away we march,
A flock of marks that got too tall to be
Seen. Chirping but unheard – from oak to larch.
First flight in foreign air. My fledgling wings
I scarcely need. Now distance left me lost.
As clouds behind obscure with rain of spring,
I laughed from nest up high – much like the cost.
Canary’s joy becomes a sparrow’s cry.
As mother toils by father’s side, a crow
Approaches from the north, his look, awry.
A ghastly new idea: I have to grow.
While seasons flee – migration after sun.
Not flight, but fall that marks when life begun.