Earthbound & Down

By Ian Scott

His shell was magnificent / this hexagonal carapace that sang a rainbow song Pearl and feldspar notes danced and shimmered with the Sun’s rays / catching only opaque pebbles that couldn’t call back / that was his anguish here, watching the Birds’ colour menagerie overhead / They sometimes caught a glint of him / and felt pity, thought it good to give him a taste of the sky / The Birds swooped down, plucking away a feather here and there, bestowing them / to their flightless friend / Just wave your arms like so and we can ditch this dustbowl! / Backed up on his haunches, arms out / light shafts peaking through the plumage / crimson & black-tipped hibous, eye-speckled eperonniers / He clapped once then again and again / calling the wind down to cradle and carry / up and up and up /Come friend! The Sky Gods’ feast awaits! But he did not heed the Birds / He kept pace, ever-ascendant / till the Earth and all its troubles / was just a little blue marble / and then even that winked out into the dark / He was gone / He played out in the stars and nebulas / birthing new hues/ Back in the tellurian skies the Birds and Sky Gods went on gathering for their feasts / but now there was a new tradition in the festivities When the Sun and her sisters dip away / the party patrons search the skies for a mote of wild, shifting colour / they smile and raise a warm toast to the Tortoise who got his freedom