The flutter startled me;
Right before me perched,
Drawing in its red wings,
A golden-eyed hawk staring bravely at me,
Its eyes as sharp as its curved beaked.
The Cherokee in me saw it
As a messenger from the Manitou.
Did it have news about the path I was on?
Something to say about drive and focus?
The white Euro in me was confused to see
This “Natural Wonder” in the cityscape.
Was it after a green parrot
In the flock of exotic escapees
In the wind-waving eucalyptus?
Had it caught a mouse in the rough
Off fairway Nine? A baby carp
In Five’s water hazard? A lizard
In the sand trap on Six? It sat
Plump and strong and proud.
Had it already aced the hole
And fed on iguana
Or a stray rabbit curled on the green?
Then a flap – it rose, retracting
Its bladed talons, over me,
Having finished its round,
And soared, letting me know
That it could wing with me
Anytime, anywhere.
2003
When I lived near Doral, my running path took me by the golf course. One day I had another serendipitous moment when a hawk, usually not found in cities, alighted on a fence in front of the route I was traveling. I stopped because I didn't want to scare it away. I found it extraordinarily, powerfully beautiful. This poem was included in the unpublished collection Operose Hierodule, 2008.
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