This picture from the album
        Bad for Good by Jim Steinman

Thinking of Reaching
G. Matthew King


	Treading water, I floated high about the clouds.  A peaceful 
lapping against my skin as the ocean met the sky by the kiss of the sun.
A silvery moon hung in the scene serenely, neither questioning its
presence nor offering any explanation.  I flew and pondered as I flew,
swimming through the air.  Pondered God and the race of mortals, the
angels on high, and demons below.  Lightning shredded the air beside me,
wrought with pride and fowl arrogance.  Almost caught me, and I shattered.
Fell fast to the earth, pushed by my own ego having thought myself my own
self.  Ground rushed closer and I screamed.  Crying for blindness; for a
hand to ease the way.  A calling answer came in form unexpected, a figure 
in white.  My opposite and mirror image.  
	Reaching on wings of black feathers, she rushed to me and I
stretched out my hand.  Begged her for compassion, and she held back, just
out of my reach.  Called me by my true name, asked me why she should save
one such as me.  I did not know, could not answer.  I offered pitiful
explanations and she laughed mercilessly.  To claim kindness after all the
scorn I have given, to claim higher soul after all the ugliness revealed.
She laughed again, melody and harmony ringing in my ears. I grabbed them
in agony as the blood pounded in my head, then poured forth from between
clenched fists.  She paused slightly in her flight, then took me gently in
her arms.  I clutched my head in my hands, tears streaming from pain and 
horror and forgiveness.
	She set me down on the high fields, the lowest valley in the
skies.  Placed me to the ground with the care shown of mother to babe and
held me to her until my pain and heartache had rendered itself mute within
my soul.  I shuddered violently from time to time; her soothing words
washed over me as she tried to cleanse away some of my scars for the 
images of God I carried within.  A final push released me from her grasp
and I fell back onto the grass.  The sun and moon were blinding in
briliance overhead and my eyes screamed shock at the sudden pain.  Bored
into my head like the light of truth came the brilliance.  I rolled over
and pulled my knees to my chest, breathing hard and shallow and struggling 
against violent sickness.
	She placed her hand upon my head.  A sound rose from her lips, the
mew of a kitten and the slight whimper of a puppy.  A shadow passed
between me and the brightness, and I saw her black wings curled over me.
Protecting me and no one to protect her.  Misunderstanding, I sat up and
waved her off.  She smiled some fondness and slowly withdrew her shadow.
My eyes saw now with only small motes of heated agony.  She nodded and 
pointed out before us.
	A world stretched before me, thousands of lights and sparkles of
humankind burnt in the stream of reality.  Blurred edges and crystal clear
moments of life floated past my wandering gaze, spiraled upward in bubbles
made of dreams.  I saw hopes and desires burst and sag under their own
arrogant images; others simply died of forgetfulness and lack of will to
taste the colors.  Rainbows shot over the stars, brilliant bridges to God
in His high country.  A cascade of stars fell before my gaze, and the
diamonds spread across the cosmos spiraled around me as time crashed
together, every moment all at once and never existing before or ever 
again.
	A wind rose up and brushed me, the sigh of a forgotten name.  It
tousled her hair slightly as she watched my reaction to the scenes with
curious amusement.  A smile played across her face and I smiled back
hesitantly.  She reached for my hand and I pulled away lest I should be
burned.  She shook her head and gave the same call I had heard moments
before.  I looked in her eyes, and found no anger; I slowly took her hand
and allowed myself to be lead to the edge.  She stepped out lightly onto
the air and with a gently breeze took me over the edge.  Soaring, fast and
slow, we tumbled and turned.  Spiraled around each other in a dance of
beauty and chaos.  She held my hand and I held hers and her hair tickled 
me as it splashed out behind us.
	Slower we flew as exhaustion claimed us from our play.  We tumbled
on and landed roughly on the mountainside we had left so many ages ago.
She turned to me and looked into my eyes with a glow of secret pleasure.
I placed my hand around her waist and she pulled closer; we sat and
watched the worlds as they spun by on their wayward journeys.  After the
kiss ended, she rose slowly to her feet and looked at me sadly.  I
beckoned her to come back, and she again looked at me. Sadness held our
gazes and she then stepped back off the cliff, black feathers flapping a
rhythm to match racing hearts.  I looked at her, could not tear my gaze
away from her white clad figure and face, as a black feather floated to
rest beside me.  She smiled so sadly and offered her hands out for me to
take.  I could not.  The chains of iron she wore bound her just as my 
shackles bind me.

Inspired by the artwork of Jim Steinman's
	Bad for Good, and a lost love