Eagle

The Rev. Canon Dr. James M. McPherson

 

torment of Prometheus

monarch of the skies;

twice now Eagle and I

have caught each other

unawares; transfixed

I watched the wings’

lumbering ungainly striving

for purchase on the yielding

air, then settle into soaring;

across the continent and

span of years, breasting a rise

to startle a second Eagle

transfixed, gorging roadkill;

that same desperate and

awkward striving this time

doomed ‑ slain by Prometheus

and happenstance, yet still

with power to gnaw my vitals

  

I encountered my first eagle when bushwalking in the high country around Canberra, late 1980s; the second, driving in Western Australia’s southwest, January 2005.

  

11 June 2013

 © the Revd James M McPherson

Maryborough Qld