Eagles

I’ve been wounded.
Wings clipped.
Rejected, because like others of my time, I went against the grain to fend for prey my broad wings would take me in search of.
Like faint whispers of the wind on cold winter nights, I abandoned all prospects of being traditional.
I abandoned what it was you thought being an eagle was.

My feathers always glowed with a hue that wasn’t customary to the likings of my dominant culture.
I was never an “ugly duckling” as some would say, but it never stopped the criticism.
The luster and vigor of my wings always convinced someone I wasn’t one who flew with the pack.
I never found solace in comparing myself to anyone, let alone those whose wings hadn’t blossomed to shine.
Shine as mine had.

See as eagles by default we’re proud.
Like all birds of prey, our powerful hooked beaks and talons guarantee that our hunger never goes unsatisfied.
This struggle between the predator and the prey has evolved with my generation breaking into flight before our mothers taught us the ins and outs of the hunt.
I laugh sometimes, not because things are funny, but because we were the first to know freedom and yet 204 years later we still suppress it.

To be an eagle, you just have to be eagle first.
Being proclaimed this and that…things that were all outside of my nature.

I never stopped.

Forgetting evolved to being forgotten.
I think we forgot what being who we were first, was truly about.
Forgetting that wars were fought, that our nature alone set ideals, we are eagles.

I never waited for you to tell me.

I never waited around to be broken over, allowing you and everyone else around to use my back as a stepping post.
I’ve slaved for my wings, not by definitions we’re used to, but I slaved, she slaved, and she slaved before her.

I never asked that my presentation alone would resonate pride, nor did I ask to be amongst the elect.

I didn’t choose to be an eagle; because it’s a bird of prey- my nature alone isn’t based on being predatory for survival.

Perhaps I learned to be, when I decided freedom never compared to bondage.

My wings guaranteed my freedom.

I never sought to be flashy and arrogant, because my wing span never compared to yours.

I was bonded.
No shackles or chains, just words; your words.

By definition and esteem eagles never compared to anything that’s ever taken flight.
They soar somewhere up above in search of kissing heaven, while occasionally dipping back down into the realities of the world below.

Preying on those who lack understanding that danger comes with sharp eyes and lightning speed.

I was wounded.
My wings were clipped.
I was rejected.

But I never forgot to soar among the stars in search of kissing heaven.

I am an eagle; bold, fierce, and nurturing in nature.

I am no ordinary eagle you see on flags or on quarter-backs.

I was birthed through the stripes and wounds of mother who never had the opportunity to teach me to fly high.

But I leaned.

I learned that eagles existed before taking flight was ever prospect to most of you.

I will never doubt that along the way I forgot I was an eagle, and confused myself with a farm animal or two.

But deep within me, I knew we were eagles who were born free to soar

Searching for heaven amongst the stars and the moon,
Searching to kiss heaven through the stars.