this image of the eagles down at our
river keeps recurring. this bald eagle
dives lazily, riding gravity, over
the water, skimming just over its top,
and then shoots out its talons to grasp a fish
but something goes awry and the fish flops
several yards across the river surface.
unconcerned, the eagle loops back into
the gloaming sky to make a second pass;
this time his success is certain, he curls
westward toward the bank and a tall elm, where
he proceeds to feast on fish unperturbed.
would I, I wonder, have looped back around,
or would I fall to the water abashed.

dmpitchford