[Child of God]: 416.If I Were A - Contest.Pain

I am meek, yet I hold much power; the power to speak and the power to carry speech, the power to hold and the power to move, the power to hurt and the power to heal. I sustain life yet also destroy it, bring life yet also take it.

On my fingers tips butterflies can dance and under my feet trees are crushed. My hands can gently carry the birds in their travels or topple the strongest building.

I carry the laugher of a child and the cries of a widow, the music of creation and the noise of man. Prayers are carried through me to the heavens, and in my stillness the reply can be heard. The leaves dance in my song and the waves bow to my bellow. Birds sing to my laughter and hide before my tears. I am the voice that is always heard, yet rarely understood.

My bitterness will freeze yet my warmth will revive. The coolness of my breath can breed sadness or can evoke relief and clarity. In the depths of despair, my caress can bring the strength of angles and the embrace of Love.

I am the first to embrace life as it enters this world, and the last by its side at the end of it. Through me, life continues. In my absence, life ceases. All of the other elements are dependent to me and bend to my will. Without me, earth fails to yield and fire is not born. Water I can summon to the heavens, bend with my desire or move to any place I desire. I can travel anywhere, for I am everywhere at once.

I am ageless yet always new, free yet always bound, sustainer yet dependent on those I sustain. I am always present yet always ignored. Always ignored, except when damned by those who abuse me, poison me. When I am poisoned by the few, that poison is spread to all. As my breath becomes more laboured, the more creation suffers. I try to clean, to heal myself yet everywhere I turn is dirt and knives that cling and cut me. I am trying so hard, yet no one is helping me, no one cares.

I am poisoned, dying, and with my death comes the death of all. I can recover with help yet, those who can do something, do nothing. When all is corrupted by greed, none care about what happens to me. After all, I am the forgotten element.

No one remembers how to listen to the air anymore.