The Eagle
He flies… so quickly, cutting the air’s depth with tawny wings,
the messenger of Zeus—the eagle—bold, his thunderings,
relying on his mighty strength, the wide lord covering
the sky, beyond where other birds refuse such hovering.
The great Earth’s mountain peaks do not hold him, in his paths, back,
nor do the hills keep him from kills, at ease along his tracks,
nor do the tireless sea’s rough-tossing waves keep him from flights
along the West Wind’s breezes manifested in men’s sight.
Within those vast expanses of the heavens, far from stars,
he guides his fine, sleek plumage underneath the sway of Mars;
and all those countless paths of his, above both hills and seas,
have led him even to those heights neared by Bacchylides.
Bacchylides: an ancient Greek lyric poet from 5th century B.C.
Bruce Dale Wise is a poet and former English teacher currently residing in Texas.
