A Poem - Peregrine (ii) (2018)

Rare, cooling air caresses me,
I soar on
Subtle currents,
The Vault of Heaven in flux.

Alone I soar, wings, tail, splayed,
Delicate instinct
Holds me on the axes,
Wild winds and I are one.

My yellow-rimmed eyes slowly

Quarter,
Searching
The flock below,
Deigning to encompass
In my keen sight

The straggler,
The weakling,
The fool.

I will cull you from your kind;
It is a kindness when weighed
In the balance
Set upon the great Axis of Life.

The hot yellow sunlight beats directly,
Linear,
The light and I are one.
I am the striking beam that
Obscures the swift demise.

A sudden ecstasy!

I stoop!

And pierce the sky like an arrow
Loosed
From out the golden sun.