THE SINGING GARDEN

The Wedge-Tailed Eagle

Scarce am I of the earth;
  But lord of the air am I,
  In the heights I had my birth,
  And my range is the broad blue sky.
  Soaring, ever a-wing,
  Swooping down to the kill,
  I fear no feathered thing;
  None may oppose my will.

Lonely I  am, and proud,
  Savage and fierce and strong.
  Afar is my keen gaze bowed
  Where the meek earth creatures throng,
  My prey, my meat are these;
  Larders of living food
  To pluck from their sheltering trees,
  And bear to my hungering brood.

I watch  grey dawns arise
  Where my storm-swept ramparts frown;
  Cradled in painted skies,
  I watch gold eves go down.
  For the chase are my arts employed—
  To harry and hunt and seize;
  Then back to my vast blue void
  In the vault of the mysteries.

What do I dream of there,
  Where only the eagles go?
  What are my joys, my care?
  None but the eagles know.
  Up from dull earth I lift,
  From the lowly things of the sod,
  And into the zenith drift
  Questing my meat from God.