HAWKE

your wings flutter in the wind

but your body remains still

your head alert

your eyes ever watchful

you hover above the bracken

shooting the breeze

sailing the updraughts

making it look so easy

perfectly balanced

on a narrow airy tightrope

sensing the biting point

silhouetted against the pale grey firnament

you are patient

you wait for that moment

that brief instant

when your unwitting prey will break cover

that window of opportunity

when your lightning strike

will most likely reep its rewards

watching and waiting

waiting and watching

now!

you plunge from the skies

dive-bombing the hillside

wings up

talons outstretched

eyes locked on their target

you disappear into the ferns

one second

two seconds

now you rise again

pheonix-like

talons empty

without recompense

cruising upwards

you fill your lungs

recompose yourself

climbing back onto your tightrope

head held high

undeterred

for you know

that your time will come