Summary

Erika Burkhalter poetically describes an early morning encounter with hawks and crows, reflecting on the mystery and beauty of nature.

Abstract

At dawn, Erika Burkhalter is drawn into the aerial drama of hawks and crows. The hawks' urgent cries capture her attention, leading her to ponder their language and the earth's dialogue. The crows' interaction with the hawks sends the latter soaring into the sky, where they glide silently across a blue canvas, reminiscent of a robin's egg. Burkhalter is captivated by the hawks' beauty and their ability to soar, contrasting it with her own earthbound state. Despite her yearning to join them in flight and understand their realm, she acknowledges that only her imagination can bridge the gap. The experience leaves her in awe of nature's wonders and with a lingering curiosity about the unseen alarm that triggered the avian commotion.

Opinions

Burkhalter is deeply moved by the hawks' beauty and their mastery of flight, which she describes as a divine act.
She feels a profound connection to the natural world, yet also a sense of separation due to her inability to physically join the birds in their flight.
The author expresses a desire to comprehend the language and interactions of the hawks and crows, suggesting a deeper, possibly unknowable, communication within the natural world.
Burkhalter's reflections reveal a sense of wonder and respect for the mysteries of nature, which she believes are beyond full human comprehension.
The experience is transformative for her, as she uses it to inspire her photography, poetry, and storytelling, aiming to share her appreciation for the earth's glories.

The Hawk Realm

Gliding to the floor of the heavens

At dawn, it began.

The hawks, I mean.

Their staccato cries punctuated the dewy morning air.

Their pleas, laden with an urgency which I could not understand, wrenched my attention up high to where they perched in the pines, their forms hidden in the lines of the trees.

What language did they speak?

Other than the language of the earth?

And that of the crows, I suppose, who squawked in reply, before diving into the canopy too, and sending the hawks fleeing to the sky.

Flapping madly at first, they gained purchase on the wind.

Then they glided, silently, divinely, across an arch of blue the hue of a robin’s egg, before descending again into the shadowed rim of the world, bordered by the silhouettes of the trees.

What did they see?

What has alarmed them so?

I’d like to know, but probably never will.

For although their golden-breasted, auburn-crested beauty bestills my beating heart and urges me to take wing and to sing and to soar to the floor of the heavens, my feet tether me solidly to the loamy earth.

And, only my imagination can give birth to what I know of the realm of the hawks.

Erika Burkhalter 2019

Flapping to the Floor of the Heavens. Photo ©Erika Burkhalter.

I hope that you enjoyed this glimpse into the commotion between the hawks and the crows in the treetops behind my home this morning. I’m not sure that I will ever know exactly what was so alarming up there, but I wish that I could have magically lifted to the sky along with them to be able to see what was going on up there.

Erika Burkhalter is a yogi, cat-mom, photographer, and lover of travel and nature, spreading her lamazement for Mother Earth’s glories, one photo, poem or story at a time. (MS Neuropsychology, MA Yoga Studies).

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