Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Hawk


The Hawk

The old Methodist church has stood across from our neighborhood for longer than anyone can remember, its spire reaching heights unhoped for by any other building in town.  Quietly beautiful in its classical architecture, it sits serenely behind a row of maple trees that glow as orange as flame each and every autumn, and casts a benevolent eye right down the middle of our street.  More observer than participant, it watches our comings and goings with a serene detachment almost as though it longs to whisper to us all...”sshhhhh”. One could never imagine its door painted red.

I was leaving the neighborhood on a sultry evening last week when something about the old church caught my eye.  I looked up, and up, to the tip-top of the steeple, glowing silver in the just setting sun, and there, on the point where the spire scrapes the sky, sat a hawk.  Almost too large to seem real, for even from my vantage point so far down below, he appeared enormous, a glorious feathered finial no architect could have imagined in his loftiest dreams. The hawk’s stare was piercing, his finely honed eye missing nothing below as his regal head shone white in the last of the sun’s sinking rays - so white I had to look away.  

For those on the lookout for omens and auguries, this was too vivid to ignore.
  Fresh from my despair over the environmental tragedy in the waters of the Gulf, it was so easy for me to interpret this sight as a harsh warning to man for his complacent disregard of the magical world entrusted to his care.  
But then, the long ago words of Emily Dickinson wafted softly into my mind.....
  “Hope is a thing with feathers”...
So, maybe it isn’t too late for wisdom, for differences to be set aside and restorative action to be taken?  Maybe there is hope for us all even yet?
 I  lifted my eyes to meet the inscrutable gaze of the hawk sitting like a revelation atop the old church, and I knew - I would be interpreting this vision for a long time to come.

29 comments:

  1. What a glorious sight and lucky you to be the one to observe it. Hopefully, it is an omen of hope. Our world needs to heal in so many ways. Perhaps with the positive thoughts sent in that direction, we can, with our collective thoughts , help with the healing...Best to you dear Pamela & Edward. Give him a special lil hug for me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. How many times have creatures crawled, flown or slithered across my path and taken me - fully - into the remembering of my deep, wild and instinctive self. Magic is sooo present everywhere, if I look. Glad you looked up! Hope and despair seem to sit on my shoulders these days, and depending on which way I turn, its one or the other. Lovely gift of a grand hawks on a spire.... ok, can't help it... May it in-spire!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for these beautiful words and sentiments. "a harsh warning to man for his complacent disregard of the magical world entrusted to his care." So well put.
    I'm worried sick as well as heartbroken about the gulf. We are stewards of the earth yet have to share it with men who don't see it's value except in monetary value.

    ReplyDelete
  4. any chance it could have been an eagle?

    ReplyDelete
  5. quoth the raven: 'Nevermore.'




    Aloha from Waikiki

    Comfort Spiral

    ReplyDelete
  6. Even if there is nothing at all left, we must hang steadfastly on to HOPE.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Like it. Almost everything about those old Methodist churches was too large to seem real - but most of it was real.

    ReplyDelete
  8. An amazing sight to behold. And the Emily Dickinson quote so apropos. I find myself most aware of such winged creatures when the "veil is thin," which is also when death seems so nearby. Death does have its quality of putting aside the old and preparing us for new, yes?

    ReplyDelete
  9. This gave me goose bumps too my friend. Such a crazy time we are in. I think people need to take warning so that there will be hope.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very interesting Pamela. We see pictures of the disaster on our TV screens - it is appalling and we all feel so helpless - let us hope that hawk was an omen for good.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yes, Pamela, let's hope the bird is signalling that nature can transcend if WE stop meddling!

    ReplyDelete
  12. It it hard to believe that Nature will not ultimately prevail in some form or another. Man....maybe not. We do seem to have an uncanny ability to run things to ruin. But then we create things that give one pause to hope....like music.

    ReplyDelete
  13. A very good omen indeed Pamela. My sister would surely say that you have had 'a sign' and then spend the next hour telling you all about it but it sounds like you already know about signs....it is in the magic of your writing.

    Jeanne:)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Indeed,

    Hope is the thing with feathers
    That perches in the soul,
    And sings the tune--without the words,
    And never stops at all...

    It is so like you to come to think of it at this moment!
    And truthfully Dickinson's poem is one of my favorites!
    It sums it all up! I love such encounters with animals!
    You write about it so beautifully!

    ReplyDelete
  15. For the longest time, I've been thrilled by the art of the Pacific Northwest Coast First Nations. Since our recent rrip to Vancouver, I've even been dreaming of Haida eagle, raven, bear, salmon, comemand killer whale.

    And yes, to these peoples, hope was indeed a thing with feathers. But yes, a caution as well.

    Joan and the Barkalots

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a beautiful image you painted for us Pamela...Raptors are such beautiful birds and I can see why they symbolize strength and vision...You describe the hawk you saw as being exceptionally large and having a bright white head...Maybe it was a bald eagle?...

    The fact that there are more hawks these days is actually a sign that our environment is improved...In the days of DDT use eagle and hawk numbers were decimated...

    ReplyDelete
  17. A well-wrought warning, Pamela. Beautiful. To sight the hawk and hear it's warning bell as you have is such a gift. You share it well here for us to hear and to pass on. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  18. A well-wrought warning, Pamela. Beautiful. To sight the hawk and hear it's warning bell as you have is such a gift. You share it well here for us to hear and to pass on. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I was one the phone once with my back directly to a window, and turned mid-sentence to come eye to eye with a hawk that was sitting on a branch no greater than two feet away. It was magnificent, but its gaze was so intense I had found I had to divert my eyes. It was a thrill. I loved your experience in the same like manner. Thanks for sharing so wonderfully.

    ReplyDelete
  20. soo amazing.. it is so sad what is happening and i feel so helpless as most of us do... i do look at things alot different now... and pray for all of those directly affected in various ways by this tragedy.

    have a wonderful week+holiday.... xxxx pam

    ReplyDelete
  21. I love reading how you experience everything of nature and interpret it to your daily life. Often it seems like so many of us go about our daily grind with little reverence to what goes on around us.

    This story makes the hair on your arms stand up, truly amazing. The old Methodist church is such a beautiful structure; don't blame said hawk for hanging out there for a bit of a rest.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Reminds me of a quote in the production for TV, Anne of Green Gables, Marilla said, "...to despair is to turn your back on God."

    Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oh and the hope lives on..we can never give up hope..and this bird ont he steeple was just that..giving you fodder to post to make us all think..not forget the lessons, and to be grateful for..Hope!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Maybe - just maybe - it's this sort of huge catastrophy we need to wake us up and make us realise what we are doing to this planet...and then have hope to try and put it right again, somehow.

    What a lovely post.

    Love from London x

    ReplyDelete
  25. I love that poem, and have it memorized! That was a thought-provoking post.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Oh so beautiful, Pamela. And a stirring thought. C x

    ReplyDelete
  27. This is a post about a vision with a hope. I think that you do it in a gorgeous way.

    Have a lovely day

    xo
    Anci

    ReplyDelete
  28. Indeed a reason to remember and for hope of the brightness the future can be!! That sky!!

    Karena
    Art by Karena

    ReplyDelete
  29. it sounds like a beautiful church and it's true hope does have feathers- and wings. I'm extremely sorry and saddened by this disaster and by all that have gone before. I wish we didn't need to use these products that harm the world and I wish the alternatives like nucleur power were better. I hope and although I don't pray, pray in my way for wind and water power to develop and save future generations from not having to deal with these disasters.

    ReplyDelete

I love to read your comments! Each and every one! Though I'm always reading your comments, I may not respond in the comment section. If you want to write me directly, you may do so at pamela@pamelaterry.net. Thank you for reading!