Sunday, October 21, 2007

An Eagle

I had never seen an eagle before but recognised him immediately, perched on the highest limb of a dead tree in the field before me. He was motionless, and the only striking thing was his size. As I walked up to the fence he dipped his head slightly, leaning forward into the air and gliding off the branch. He wheeled gently just above the ground and after two beats of his wings was as high as the tree again and now climbing languidly in a wide arc. Suddenly he appeared to hang still in the sky, and then he folded his wings back and plummeted, a dark blur arrowing towards the ground. There was a piercing squeal and then the eagle was in the air again with a small creature in its talons. He flew over to the edge of the wood and I continued my walk up the hill, but the ground in front was as good as invisible to me. My mind's eye was dazzled by him: an agile and lethal creature, and yet the most graceful and inspiring I had ever seen.

10 comments:

Patience-please said...

Very nice! Keep writing!

all the best-
Patience whose own last entries have been blech

Anonymous said...

There was a bird flew from a perch,
too far away to see
the ground from which the prey was snatched.
How know we it's a he?

Greg said...

They are magnificent creatures.
I'm quite envious that you've seen one hunting in the wild.

Anonymous said...

1 month has passed since An Eagle was posted. Are you suffering from Writers Blog?

EB said...

OK, I have to be honest here: it's an allegory. It's about a person, not a bird. Sorry folks!

Greg said...

I've never been able to spot allegory. Gets by me every time.

It's still very nicely written, though, even if one takes it literally.

Nemo. said...

Well?

Anonymous said...

wot no blog?

Alfarrin said...

Good Day, EB:

Thank you for your comment on my Cauldron Born blog- I forget where I read that the name "Mohammed" was so common in Britain, but trust me- you've relieved me greatly by showing me that this is not the case.

The post you read, the one about the girl murdered for not wearing the hijab, will likely be removed by me because upon re-reading it, I think I was too angry, even for me. It makes me sound a little too extremist, and that doesn't reflect the reality of me well.

May the Gods feed you honey:

Ule

EB said...

Oh dear, I'm afraid I have bad news for you then Ule - it is quite right about the popularity of the name. However the figure is arrived at by combining all its many different spellings, and of course if you do that with other names too this does change the picture a little. I am also disturbed by this - and disturbed that I should be!