i saw you there
while i, naked,
perched on the precipice

earth rumbled and shook
bloody eye of sun
glared down, pitiless

you watched from the heavens
silent
immutable

free fall or free flight?
snow leopard peers
shyly from snowdrift

marauding falcon circles
toes grip crumbling earth
the abyss ignites

beckoning
whispering

eyes stray upward
for a sign
struck blind
crystalline peaks reflecting

roaring avalanche

flames lick
cooling
i, already at white heat

stepping out
explosion of wings
spears of ice rain down
piercing soles (souls)

suddenly soaring
no Icarus, I
straight into the golden
relentless light

stripped of flesh
swallowing the sun