Today, within a span of about an hour, I saw a giant red tailed hawk and a bald eagle flying over our house. Initially, they were both being bombed by crows but once the crows gave up, I watched both for about ten minutes and in that time, neither of them flapped. They were simply riding the currents of the air, as if it were the most natural thing in the world and for them it was.
It's hard not to place importance on such sightings. Last year, I hosted a 24 hour fire in our backyard to celebrate the Summer Solstice. A little over an hour after I started the fire, a huge bald eagle flew very low over our house. I took this as an omen of some import much like I took today's sightings.
It makes so much sense to me that for the majority of human existence, we have approached animals as spiritual guides and teachers. The embodiment of the holy, made visible. It's only recently, in the span of human existence, that we have begun to place our faith in an unseeable presence that exists to place judgement on us.
The spirit is all around us and in everything, you just have to know how to look, listen, taste, touch and feel.
After the long letters
have been written, read,
abandoned, after
distances grow absolute
and speech, too,
is distance,
only listening is left.
I have heard the dark hearts
of the stones
that beat once in a lifetime.
William Pitt Root
(Just for the record, the picture above was not taken by me. The two birds I saw were not visible at the same time.)
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