When We Had Wings

by Ariel Lawhon

Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it. —Rabindranath Tagore, Collected Poems and Plays

Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all. —Emily Dickinson

This is the dance of life, isn’t it? she mused to herself. As the music changes, the steps change, and so then does the dancer. But the people we choose to dance with, well, they remain as close to our beating hearts as we will hold them, don’t they?