A red-tailed hawk soars in an azure sky,
Majestically gliding - oh so high!
Is it any wonder he inspires such awe
In those who study education and law?
Less than eighty, now ... they're, unaccounted.
'Tis sad ... NEXT: the hawk hovered that founded
fresh sedges, grasslands, and deserts idyll,
God in the detail, Red-Tailed Hawk sidle,
Blitzkrieg mob by crows, females sized greater,
social-less wingers, life mono-mater,
dives one hundred twenty miles per hour,
kills owl young BOTH nesting competitor,
Prey spotted one hundred feet in the air,
Their eyesight to man, seven times finer,
Two feet, two pounds, twenty-one years lifespan,
Roadkill, hunting, and human expansion,
Diet: various birds, and small rodents,
Scrub deserts, farm fields, rainforests, woodlands.
John was invited to participate in the sweat lodge ceremony.
You may or may not experience your vision quest.
He had no preconceived ideas but enjoyed his Apache friends.
A bit of peyote put him into another realm.
He shapeshifted, becoming a red-tailed hawk.
He flew to the top of the mountain.
He felt adventurous and free, he had passion and strength.
He never wanted to come down.
Afterwards he knew he could meet any obstacle
Surmount any pinnacle.
It was more than enough.
Perched, waiting, still
He swoops with swift precision
Red tail fanned in flight
His cry announcing intent
See the beauty in this flight...
Soaring high above the grassy terrain,
Which renders much more than daily grain.
The waving grass is inviting me aground,
But cautiously first I'll just look around.
Effortlessly floating aloft on thermal air,
I soar in large circles as below I stare.
A running Titmouse having now caught my eye,
has given me reason to soon leave the sky.
A dead tree branch has now become my perch,
as I stand a moment to continue my search.
Again detecting movement in the grass below,
as the mouse catches my eye off stealthily I go.
An occasional shrill cry is my only sound,
next my shadow, from above, on the ground.
With one swift lurch its life soon will end,
with beak and talons its small body I'll rend.
A daily occurrence in the food chain you see,
while I hunt for mice, other things hunt me.
My reason for killing, to survive, unlike man,
who kills me for pleasure and because he can.
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