Roots and Wings

I traded sparks for steady hands

Turned firelight into working plans

I laid my name in bricks and beams

And learned to live between two dreams

I held the weight I bore the name

I wore the mask I played the game

I built the world they asked me to

And somewhere lost the one I knew

I gave them roots I held the ground

I kept the walls from falling down

But something stirred beneath my skin

A whisper soft as growing wind

"You gave them all you had to give

But what do you need now to live?"

I smiled through days that moved too fast

Solved every storm outpaced the past

But in the quiet when nights got long

I heard the echo of a song

It spoke of wings I used to wear

Of burning skies and open air

Of paths I swore I'd one day find

Before the world had claimed my time

I gave them roots I held the ground

I kept the walls from falling down

But something stirred beneath my skin

A whisper soft as growing wind

"You gave them all you had to give

But what do you need now to live?"

There's grace in stillness strength in stay

But even oak trees dream of May

And fires once buried deep in ash

Will rise again if winds should pass

I gave them roots I held the line

I shaped the earth with hands and time

But now the wind has found my name

And something in me wants the flame

I'm proud of every stone I've laid

But wings were never meant to fade

"Not all who stay were meant to stay forever"

(And not all wings are gone for good)