Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Kestrels on Hampstead Heath


I photographed this young male close to the tumulus (sometimes called Boudicca's Mound) just after sunrise a few summers ago. I used it as the cover for my poetry collection.
The poem below is about another occasion.


A hawk I saw and marvelled how lovely things can be.

Alighted on  a branch he lit the tree
with his fierce stripes, tawny and black shivering.
His shouldering wings - cherubim-like -covering
his quick head: sleek, contemptuous of me.

And who to judge him with the eye of man,
whose violent and larcenous hand,
leaves nothing undisturbed?

And I, for wonder at this bird,
let go of judgment and breathed
cold air until he rose
beyond where thought goes,
my eye like his - undeceived.



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