Fly

There used to be a thousand voices somewhere underneath this sky. Tonight I hear the engines breathing. And one bird still asking why. He flies between the towers, through wires and sodium light. A little pulse of feathers against the endless night. No forest waits below him, no branches break his fall. Only glass reflecting glass, and shadows on the walls. He doesn't know he's lonely. He doesn't know what's gone. He only knows the morning used to answer with a song. Every window wakes below, every billboard starts to glow. But somewhere in the noise, one living voice refuses to go. Fly, last bird, fly, over the city lights. Sing while there is still something left to hear tonight. Fly, last bird, fly, before the morning dies. We sold the world for brighter rooms and forgot to leave you sky. The river wears a silver skin of oil beneath the bridge. The fields have turned to warehouses, the trees survive as images. He lands upon an antenna, mistakes it for a tree. Below, a child points upward at something they have never seen. Someone raises up a phone. Someone whispers, "Is it real?" The bird just shakes the rain away. He has no idea how that should feel. Every screen can show a forest. Every speaker plays the rain. But none of them can tell you why the silence sounds the same. Fly, last bird, fly, over the city lights. Sing while there is still something left to hear tonight. Fly, last bird, fly, before the morning dies. We sold the world for brighter rooms and forgot to leave you sky. He isn't here to warn us. He doesn't know our names. He never read the numbers. He never learned the blame. He only keeps on singing because that's what living does. And maybe that's the cruelest thing about what we've become. Fly, last bird, fly, above our hollow lights. Sing until your little voice cuts through the machines tonight. Fly, last bird, fly, don't wait for us to rise. We sold the morning piece by piece... and left you with the night. He flies beyond the towers. For one second, everything is still. Then somewhere in the distance... another bird answers him.