Okay, I'm trying my hand here. This is going to be bad, don't judge. Thank you to for deaths_2nd_cousin inspiring me to share these.

To fly, you must first learn to fall

To leap as high as you can

Your heart filling with joy as you see the sky coming closer

And closer

And watch as your fingers pass through the nonexistent clouds

And you fall, faster and faster

And with every beat of terror

The ground gets closer and closer

And you hit it hard and lay there, in a pit of despair

Thinking

How did my life come to this?

How did I leap so high only to fall back to unforgiving earth?

And you try to think through the blinding pain:

Where did I go wrong?

For it is not the broken bones or the stones beneath you

That cause you such agony

No.

It is the crushing weight of your broken dignity

And your foolish foresight

Stupid, were you, to think you could leap so high

So soon

Hindsight is twenty-twenty, they say,

But nothing can turn you back

Then what's the point of hindsight if you can't fix your mistakes?

To learn, they tell you

To grow from your wrongdoings

You know it is pointless to argue

So you search above

For something sturdy to hold you up

You search but it is useless, one fantasy cloud after another drifting by

Look before you leap, they say

I have looked, you say

Now I leap

You jump once more, your heart filling

Not with joy this time, but hope

Hope that keeps you going, burning like the sun in your veins

You grab hold of a cloud

And this time, you refuse to let go

You haul yourself up

Bit by bit

Until you lay panting, staring up at the blue expanse

It beckons you, like a lighthouse to a lost ship

You struggle to your feet and look ahead

Towards the unknown

Towards the towering beast known as the future

And you put one foot in front of the other

The beast takes one swipe, and you're falling again

But as the ground rushes up to greet you, you welcome it

And that is how you learn to fly.