I wondered if I could go touch the sky
To see the clouds and stars for what they were
I bounced upon the trampoline so high
The world, the earth, moved past me in a blur

So close, I felt, to all that was above
Just one more bounce and I could know it all
I flew as if I were a finch or dove
Those birds, unlike me, knew they would not fall

The next rebound my ankle twisted ‘round
The pain shot up through denim jeans and bone
So close I was, but now lay on the ground
Accepted fate, and then I hobbled home

I was not ever meant to be a bird
I was not ever meant to touch the sky
The secrets hidden there cannot be heard
Or else the well of secrets has run dry