Photo Prompt: Lost and Found

Swooping.

Soaring.

The thrill of the chase

As I twist and turn,

knowing I am everything

they want,

graceful

elegant

beloved by the ones I carry

through danger

bringing them home

returning them to the arms

of those who love them.

But not today.

Today, I am a wounded creature

pierced to my core.

I will not fail him.

Even as I stutter and

stammer my apologies

I am calculating

the softest landing

for him.

I crumple in a heap,

my face in the sand

but I feel him withdraw

and know all is well

when he whispers a quiet farewell

before fleeing from my side.

Others come to taunt me,

ridicule my lost beauty,

my scars.

I remain silent. I know

their laughter will not last,

that they too will bear these marks

before the end

and they will regret the cruelty

they showed a fallen foe.

I hear their whispers

I see their souls

and I know

how much they yearn for me.

And then they are gone.

Surrounded by darkness,

weight bearing down,

I feel my body fracture

though my spirit remains.

I know my worth.

And yet.

I am lonely,

missing the free-wheeling

tumbles of my old life

and the purr of friends on my wing.

Here,

Silence.

And then, a miracle.

A breeze caresses me,

warm and welcoming after so long

buried beneath the weight

of my guilt

for abandoning my comrades.

Sunlight warms my skin.

Dazed.

Confused.

Words bounce around me,

excited chattering I do not understand:

rebuild

rescue

project

valuable

It does not matter, for

I understand the only thing that does:

I am found. *

*N3200 was discovered on the beach at Dunkirk in 1986, having lain buried there since Squadron Leader Geoffrey Stephenson crash landed her on 26th May 1940. She was restored, and returned to flying in 2014.