This cache is dedicated to all those do-it-yourselfers; may you have the drive to start it, the courage to do learn it, and the perseverance to finish it.
"The bluebird carries the sky on his back." - Henry David Thoreau
Enjoy this original sestina:
The Little Bluebird
Once upon a time there was a little bluebird.
All he ever wanted to do was fly, soar
over the mountains and above the clouds.
He dreamt about being swept toward the sun,
the glow of it on his feathers warming his heart.
The little bluebird just wanted to be free.
Once, there was a sick girl who wanted to be free.
She wanted to be up in the sky with the birds,
flying so high the man in the moon would steal her heart.
She pretended that she was not sick, instead soaring
into the heavens being warmed and healed by the sun.
She dreamed that she was cured and her pillows were clouds.
The little bluebird flew above the clouds,
spinning and twirling in the open sky, so free.
He flew so high above the clouds that he and the sun
became friends. The sun told the little bluebird
that he would protect him while the little one soared
in the sky. Joy and love filled the bluebird’s heart.
She knew that inside her body, dying, was her heart.
If only she could be with her parents above the clouds,
flying to them, holding them in her arms, soaring
over the mountains. She just wanted to be free
from this pain and sickness. She wished she was a bird
flying so high she would get burned by the sun.
One day, the little bird was speaking with the sun,
it told him that there was a little girl with a sick heart.
“What can we do to save her?” asked the little bluebird.
The sun told him that she needed wings to fly over the clouds
so the sun could heal her. Then her body would be freed
of the sickness, her heart and soul no longer sore.
“I will give her these wings that have soared
the open skies beyond the clouds into the sun,”
said the little bluebird. He flew to her and freed
her body of flightlessness and pain, and her heart
began to sing. She flew up, and up into the clouds,
held by her family, flying just like a little bluebird.
The bluebird saw her soar, and songs fluttered from his heart.
“I have healed her,” said the sun, as the bird looked at the clouds.
“Now she can be free” were the last words of the little bluebird.