Harrier Hawks.
By Roland Ashby
The Anglican Benedictine Monastery of St Mark’s in Camperdown, Victoria, Australia, sits on the rim of an extinct volcano, now Lake Merri Bullen. While on silent retreat here I was inspired by a pair of Harrier Hawks, circling at twilight above the lake, to write the following poems.
The aerodynamics of grace
With heart’s wings outstretched
I ride the air streams
of your love
neither prey, nor preying upon,
trusting, for a moment,
in the aerodynamics of grace
against the dead weight
of all desires
and delighting
in the joy of it.
Free fall
Where you go
I must follow
At this edge of night
school me in the ways of flight
with sinew taut
and power of one,
single,
undiluted thought
But, most of all,
on nearing home,
teach me
the art
of
free
fall