I grew up in the midlde of the urban forest, where tall trees of metal and glass dominated my views. It would make me feel so small looking up and see the sky filled with these metal trees; blue, grey and black dominating my world. With fast food wrappers, cigarettes and trash the flowers and grass that I would lay on; sewer water and waste acting as the rivers that I would jump across each day. The pigeons and rats my best and closest friends. Some days I would watch with envy as the original creators of these treets would enter their roots and climb all the way up those branches. When I was small, I made the mistake of attempting to join these creators, to see beyond my little reality and it is one I would never make again. The creators would not tolerate my presence within their trees and after much yelling, it was made clear my place was among the roots and meadows. At night, I would sleep at the bottom of these roots and try to dream of wings of silver taking me high above those metal trunks and showing me this world beyond my meadows of sharp angles and grid trails. Having never seen it though, those dreams are always hazy, imprints of what I hoped for, rather then what was there; creating a longing to solidify those imprints. These dreams both haunted and excited me and I’d wake up in the morning wondering if that dream would ever be fullfilled. As the seasons went on, my little forest continued to grow, with new residents walking and widening these trails almost daily. At first, it was exciting, with new colors and sound entering our world. New trees were planted, growing even higher then the trees of my youth. My meadows of trash began to slowly be pushed away to reveal vast expances of flat grey and black and my rivers slowly dried up. My friends started to dissapear and become feared by residents, who went out of their way to hurt them and ensure they could not get home to me. What was once excitment quickly turned to fear, as it slowly became clear that I was no longer welcomed in my forest. Though I had cared and explored these forests since I could remember, the new residents felt I was huritng the trees and trails and whispers of exile became louder and louder. Until one day those whipers became shouts that I could no longer ignore. Then, finally that day came when I was driven forever from my forest; forced into a loud grey monster that flew through my forest faster then I had even traveled before. My trees slowly dissapeared as I entered a world both barren and vast. Away from all my trees, I felt exposed for the first time in my life and feared how I would survive without the ability to hide within my roots. The monster that had so quickly brought me to this barren just as quickly dissapeared, going back to the trees that were no longer mine. They dind’t even look the same, with those trees barely visible from where I stood. As the fear slowly gave way to numbness, I became to walk this barren waste and as the sun slowly dissapeared, the world became darker and colder then I had ever experianced before, but still I continued to walk. I walked until my legs gave out, knees hitting the ground in a piller of dust and defeat. I had tried to get back to my forest, but even after all this walking, it still remained ever smaller and distant. As the darkness continued, I found that initial numbess gave way to biting cold that spread through to my toes, up to my fingers. It dragged me down until all I could do was lay on this barren world and close my eyes, with hopes of seeing my trees again. Suddenly, a bright light hit my eyes and I knew morning had arrived brighter then I coud have imagined, chasing away the weight that had dragged me to the ground. For the first time in a long time, I felt lighter then I ever had and as I rose up from the ground, that lightness continued until I realized that I no longer touched this barren land. What was once been hands and arms had become silver wings, almost exact from my pigeon friends. A simple wave of these wings lifted me higher and higher from the ground, until I could almost touch the clouds. As i looked at my new view, the forest could be seen more clearly on the horizon and suddenly a pull stronger then I had ever experiance drew me towards that forest. With wings flapping, I went straight towards those trees that had once protected me, hoping to just glimps them one more time. In a blink I found myself back in the forest, but what was once towering trunks shooting into the sky, now became tree tops and branches that I could brush with my wings. It was then I realized that my forest was much vaster then I had ever relaized, with different tree types visible all the way to the horizon. Warmth permeated by body, and I knew then that though the forest had abandoned me, it just as quickly called me home, slipping into my dreams and making that wish to see from above real. Joy beyond any I could have imagined filled me to the top, making me more weightless as I soared among my trees. My wings never tired and that wonder never seased as I explored the tree tops I had always been denied. And this was how I spent the rest of my days, flying high above the city.