If you ever lose heart and the earth seems as distant as stars fading into the noise of your busy mind, know this. That a tiny island exists in the blue hands of the ocean. That a tree grows upright into the salted clouds. That two eagles love each other enough to spend their lives greeting the morning sun together. That two eaglets stand in their nest, gazing at the heavens. Looking down to the forever ground. They eat and sleep and flap their wings. And one day in July, one by one, they will jump into the air. They will know the difference between existing and what is beyond. They will hold onto nothing. The hurricane will come, courage catching their pinions on fire, as they mount the wind, climbing ladders into realms of the invisible.


--T.L. Stokes






Thursday, April 28, 2011

THE HATCHLING





As the orb of heat and yellow
lays ribbons across the high pillar,
my father listens for me. Out the window
I came slowly into your world. Now as I sleep
I dream I am covered in mother feathers
and the warmth of her heart drums
into my visions. Father tucks blankets
around me and his body is all that I need
right now.

Excuse my weakness I am so small. Weary,
my eyes close and dream of a dream
I am dreaming.

When I open my eyes again, the orb has moved.
I sense a thousand spirits guard me. I don't
see them. They are clouds hovering off beyond
the waters.

I feel my heart beat stronger and stronger
as my father watches the earth and sky.
From my mouth, new songs spill forth.
Then tired, so tired, my eyes fall down.
I am heavy, and delighted, the air
is all around me now. So much room
in this new place.

Soon I know mother will come again.
Always, like the waves to the shore,
my mother then my father come to me.
Always the soft umbrella, uncountable
streaks of light and air and earth
woven into row upon row of my safe
place.

Shhh quiet, I am falling again into sleep.






for hatchling number one
1:39pm 4/28/2011 Hornby Eagle Nest

c2011 T.L.Stokes (all rights reserved)

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