Shadow of Your Wing
This article is part of the Claritas spring 2024 issue, Home.
By: annina bradley
Shadow of Your Wing
leaving
as the sun sinks toward the horizon
spilling its yolk,
i will it to stop—
wishing i could remain forever
along these familiar roads
desert sage and alpine glow,
i trace the hilltops, the back of my hand;
these mountains and their rivers
witnessed my early footsteps in their soil
the plane takes off
and thrust of acceleration
tugs at the k n o t
in my t h r o a t
i look out the window—
watch as the fields and flora shrink to squares,
memories of biking down my neighborhood street,
harvesting apricots from my grandmother’s tree,
grow distant
with each increase
in elevation
by the time my feet touch ground again,
i find myself
unanchored
searching
adrift
i wait for the dove to fly back to me,
budding branch in its beak,
a promise of land
in this land of concrete,
on a park bench
i watch
the swallows and their wings
flapping across a formless sky,
i wonder if they ever tire,
if
they ever long
for more than a birdbath,
resting only a moment
before taking flight again,
as if searching for some other place
to call home
beyond the clouds that cloud
the constellations
i cannot see
amid city sirens and echoes,
i cannot imagine
how far my voice must travel
for God to hear it—
if it must outrun light
but then i question
if it must travel that far
at all
for who laid creation’s
foundation?
who clothes the fields,
directs the dove?
who causes dawn to know its place,
to take hold of the ends of the earth?
found
the same sun that hid its face
rose again
extending its soft rays
across the valley,
illuminating the grasses’ morning dew
the finches and the jays
i can see now, aren’t weary
they whistle, flipturning
their song reveals
but a fraction of Your glory,
there is no upturned stone
where You are not found
my life’s footpaths,
once imprinted in the sand,
are quickly swept with tide,
i am but a breath—
yet from generation
to generation
You breathe life
once uprooted
i am now rooted
in You, the everlasting Source
there is no distance
i could cover
uncovered by the shadow of Your wing
there is no corner of Your creation
where You have not already gone before me,
Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Fire
Unchanging Rock of Ages
You place my feet
on solid ground.