Silver Wings Of Liberty

Silver Wings Of Liberty
© Surazeus
2017 08 28

Luke Skywalker stands on the shimmering plain
as desert wind swirls around family dome,
and gazes at twin suns of Tatooine
that gleam with ache of opportunity
through the lonely haze of the timeless sky
till they vanish beyond the blank horizon,
then sighs as he stares up at twinkling stars.

"How I long to escape this ball of dust,
soaring on silver wings of liberty,
and shoot into the boundless void of hope
to glide among the shining stars of life.
All my life I have helped my Uncle Owen
tend his farm to produce nutritious crops,
coaxing seeds to sprout from this barren soil,
while strange eager flame of restless desire
stirs me to race across the galaxy
and visit every planet rich with life.
Other than face of my kind Aunt Beru,
whose tender lullabies glow in my heart,
and gentle hand calms my restless ambition,
I have no memory of my sweet mother,
and yet I seem to see in gleaming stars
contours of her face, and her shining eyes
that ever watch me with wordless concern
from the empty sky where I search for love.
What fierce ache of longing for great adventure
simmers deep in the cavern of my heart
like flames burning bright in the cooking pit,
and drives me to leap in flying machine
and soar swifter than lightning through the sky
as if the spirit of my father roars
in suppressed passion from my beating heart?
Whenever I look with propitious eyes
in the mirror of desire and hope,
I think I see the mask my father wore
when he first gazed up at the boundless sky
with longing to fly swift between the stars.
This dreary globe of waterless dust sucks
my soul down into its featureless sands,
trapping my heavy soul in sterile clumps,
yet that grating friction of hissing sand,
which compresses my mind in stifling rage,
instead of crushing me senseless and numb
fuels the raging flames of my fierce desire
to extract trembling wings from broken shell
of my heart, shattered by dreary despair,
and spread them wide to catch the howling wind
so I may leap light into the broad sky.
How can this little fragile ball of dust
trap my enthusiastic spirit tight
against its withered breast of milkless dugs
when my imagination well projects
visions of my swift flight from world to world?
Though I can conceive my quick liberty
yet I cannot see what chain of events
might propel my escape from this dull world
to seek grand adventure among the stars.
Whenever opportunities arise
that leave clear threads of clues through labyrinth
of desperate hope to perform noble deeds
I will leap to follow that clear guiding star
beyond the imprisoning walls of duty
to play my part on stage of history,
urged by my desire for justice and truth.
Perhaps if I follow my best friend Biggs
and join the Imperial Academy
I may learn to pilot a fighter starship,
then I can leave to join the rebel alliance 
to battle tyrants and rescue the weak
that frees the galaxy from blind oppression.
I hear my Aunt Beru now calling me.
Once I tend the new droids we bought today,
perhaps I can slip away to Mos Eisley
and join the Imperial Academy,
yet duty to the good uncle who raised me
constrains me to remain another season,
at his desperate request for my strong help,
promising me I can sign up next year,
and then I can escape this dusty rock
and soar on beams of light among the stars."

Luke turns away from gazing at the stars
and trudges to sleep under the dome
while lights of a large imperial cruiser
blink with alarm above the spinning world.