The Sky That Holds Them
Two birds float in the hush of a dying light,
wings stretched wide across a sky
that once held everything.
They're not flying away,
just no longer toward each other.
She met him on the cusp of becoming,
when her wings still shook at the thought of open air.
She came from earthbound roots,
calloused beak, and quiet resilience.
He, from a lineage of flight,
names curved in the clouds,
expectations whispered like prophecy.
Only leaving the nest himself,
but already, the wind knew his name.
He showed her the sky,
before she even knew it was hers to claim.
Now the time has come,
to chart her own course.
With her feathers fully unfurled,
and her heart marked by the maps,
that he unknowingly helped trace,
not following in his wake but riding,
alongside the wind.
Because not all love is built for landing.
Not every flight is meant to end in the same tree.
Sometimes it just teaches you how to soar,
and then lets you go,
gently,
grieving,
and grateful.
They finally drift apart.
Not into emptiness.
They move through the same light,
under the same moon,
carrying an echo of what almost was.
They never again touch,
yet something in the space between
still shivers,
with memory,
with meaning.
They keep flying,
not as a pair,
as something quieter,
something that still aches,
in the softest corners of the sky.
A kind of forever,
that doesn't need closeness,
to be real.
So let them go,
let them rise
hearts heavy,
wings brave.
Because always,
In some small eternal way,
They’ll both know they once flew under the same sky,
and that sky-
it never stopped holding them.
By Méabh Cusack
Méabh Cusack is an Irish writer and activist from County Monaghan, currently based in Dublin. With a background in politics, Irish-language advocacy, and journalism, her work often offers a glimpse into her own personal thoughts and private life. Poetry became a personal practice for Méabh during a period of transition, when stepping into fast paced, and often ruthless environments felt far removed from the quiet familiarity of home. Her writing is rooted in the landscapes of her rural upbringing and makes frequent use of ecocentric imagery to process emotional experiences through seasonal, geographic, and elemental lenses.