i climb the way an eagle hunts

fast and hungry

i get to the top and try out everywhere to sit

the best spot leaves my feet hanging over the edge

i lean in for a better look down

and the wind picks up and rights me

i bring my hands together and watch the sound stretch toward the horizon

my hair and clothes blow back as the echo slaps me in the face

i'll know when the time is right

and the time is now

i'm only afraid of what will happen to the man with no fear

i spit in my hands

and i clap a beat that splits the sky

i'm put off balance by blindfolds of pastel coloured sheet lightning

but the rhythm doesn't change

the electric sound of heavy water falling and the crack in the sky grows big and dark

thousands of black birds fly out in V formation

the belts of lightning showing off the pearlescent imperfections in their plumage

and i'm looking down a tunnel at the kaleidoscope of dark light

the birds come together in a new pattern

winding around each other until i can see nothing else

they swoop as one in a ring around me

moving in unison with the waves of sound that encompass the summit

the first one enters through my left eye

the eye fills with shimmering light

and becomes a cavity - a hollow entrance

the thousands of birds follow and fill my skull

i feel them moving around and within themselves

until the first one punches out my right eye from the inside

and the stream flows back into the bellowing sky

through the gaping lesion

like a crystal river running through a jagged canyon

my brain begins to stir

ruffling it's fledgling feathers to shake itself to it's feet

it bursts out through my face screaming

the huge black bird soars and dives and i feel my body go limp

i collapse forward as the sky becomes dull

and the bird that's my brain lands on the other side of the crack

my empty body falls from the top

the wind whistles through my fingers

as i return to the earth i split the ground on impact

i fold through the gap

and the beat goes on