The Why Not Me's Poem by Melissa Casteen

I long to feel as the eagle does
soaring high and swift among the clouds
and while my dreams alight, I cannot fly because
my arms have nary a feather, my feet are planted to the ground

And so I thought if I were a tree,
growing tall and rooted deep
I'd reach such great heights and long-lived be
but in me there lacks that steadiness, a contentment I can't keep

Well, maybe I could be like the deer
leaping, bounding, heart a-pounding in its carefree fancy flight
dancing through both glade and glen, but alas I fear
that gracefulness eludes me, like the sun forgets the night

If only I were akin to fish
gliding surely through lake or stream or sea
oh how that water would cradle me, but it's just another wish
for a diver I am not and a poor fish I'd surely be

And so I sat and pondered this
all the wishes and the why not me's
and I wondered if the others wish
what would they have longed to be?

Would the eagle flying along the wind
dream to swim, the fish to soar?
The tree so tall- would it like to send
its roots down paths they've not been before?

Perhaps the deer would like to stand
safe and steady as that tree
But on wind and sea and here on land
things are as they were meant to be

And finally I began to see
That I already am these things
A bit like deer and fish and tree
and ready to unfold my wings.