The Feather

     I started thinking about what happens to a feather when a bird flies. I imagined a feather as strong, but strong because it was subjected to many forces and had to adapt. "The Feather" is my interpretation of what happens to this feather during flight. 

The Feather

It “flies through the air with the greatest of ease” like George Leybourne’s trapeze rider, this keratin creation called a feather.

Nothing is as beautifully magnificent, yet stressed as a feather.

Attached to raptor’s wing, the romantic plight of flight is a torturous ordeal for the feather.

Wind ravages the feather.

This engineering masterpiece enables raptor to career through rapid currents with barley a breath.

Amazing feather!

Barbs separate from their neighbor like a dingy from a storm ridden ship.

Yet, the deed is hardly done for the feather.

In icy cold air, the fibers feel not a thing.

Senseless feather.

It curves in the wind commanding these rapid currents for the raptor.

Though its ends fray, its color never fades.

It soon floats gently to the ground for a soul to find as a sacred symbol.

And so ceases the stress upon the feather.

By: Jessica Herzog