empty nest

morning had broken..
it was 4:30 am and i am
walking the tightrope yellow line
down the middle of bayview edison road..
it will be a bright day..
warm and windy as usual..

halfway to the slough trail,
i catch a fawn doing ice rink leaps
above the grass at the trailer park..
she/he stops as she catches wind of me..
i stop too
we gaze at the gazer in one another..
my fortune from the day before said:
your tenderness is your greatest strength
the medicine cards claim the deer as gentleness -
whoa! lo! a second prancing dancer skids
in behind her /his sibling and their 4 eyes
hold my 2 eyes in a most gentle stare down..
then mama comes along and the spell is broken..
we are all on the move again..

the lone duck who i've been keeping my eye on
is still alone this morning and appears to enjoy the solitude
her mate has left her with..
what do i know..?
except that i appear to enjoy the solitude
my mates have left me with !

birds and beasts and jewelled insect free
know me full well; one brotherhood are we.
                      ~   james thomson

my legs had lost their "start up" pain
and it was a joy of joys to be moving along the path
with the pace of..dare i say.. a dancing fawn..

as i closed in on the finish line up the road
to the wee abode, walking backwards as is my usual stride
to get the full spectrum of calf and gluts and whatever toots -
i see the winged one..
the fledging is huge..immense in wing span ..
the aura is at once powerful and tentative..
i am witness to the first flight ..
the eaglet youth circles exactly above my head
and turns back to the nest..
the nest that i have watched
for days
months
years now..

ecstatic and in full wonderment
i am so excited i spin and yelp -
arriving at complete standstill
 .. in awe and admiration..

what must it take to move off the edge of the nest
into the thin bright air of emptiness and clear light?
what must it feel like to open the tightly folded wings
that had held one a' capture to sticks and twigs?
what must it be to fly, fly away from the known
to the unknown?

everything harmonizes with me 
which is harmonious to thee, o universe.
nothing for me is too late nor too early
which is in due time for thee.
everything is fruit to me
which thy seasons bring, o nature.
in thee are all things, from thee are all things,
to thee all things return.
            ~ marcus aurelius

if all this was not enough to set my own wings flying..
i ended up on a whale watching boat that afternoon
with three lovelies and a band of scamps looking for
cetaceans in the salish sea..
we found them..
a plenty..
the great sea pandas in number,
coming in for a plunder -
right before our very eyes,
the blessed porpoise was late lunch for the orcas..
leapin' and hoppin' on a moon shadow
rolling and romping with great glee
robustly, lushly, huskily licking their lips..
do whales have lips?

become the one that when you walk in,
luck shifts to the one who needs it.
if you have not been fed, be bread.
               ~ rumi

as one animal to another, it was a day to remember...
nature never did betray the heart that loved her.
                 - wordsworth