There have been various poems posted on the Loch Garten Osprey threads: here is a new one of mine, to celebrate the fledging of the first youngster on the Loch Garten nest for 2010--
FLYING IN THE WIND
The gentle morning broke as the sun put out its lissom threads of red and bronze upon the nest-
I felt that today, I was to be as one with this wind which has buffeted me strongly for days now, and bent our frail bodies to its will.
My brothers tried to move their wings against the skies, but failed to shake themselves from their anchor on the twigs crackling hard beneath our new bright talons.
I raised them, my wings, my reason for being, feeling their feathers soft but brave and powerful, and jumped up, and jumped up again...
I lifted, and felt stronger than before, pushed with my newly strengthened legs, and tried again: the greedy wind grasped me upwards, and I let it take me up, upwards and above - I was flying at last, flying so that my breath was almost taken from me in the excitement of flight for the very first time.
As I curved around the nest which had been my only home since I began, I felt with myself the oneness of my being alive, of flying at long last in Nature's true embrace - I was at Home in the world itself, and nothing could take this from me.
As it now appears that having raised two chicks successfully, EJ, the resident female at Loch Garten, is now migrating once again at the end of a successful 2011 season, I will put here my tribute to her for this year:
A S Y O U G O
There'll be a lump in my throatAs you go.I'll be crying a little,I know -I'll remember the happy timesWith a little wry smile, and I'll remember the sad ones, as you'reCovering the miles.
Each day you'll go further, and the distanceWill grow,As you travel e're onwardsYou never will knowHow much we shall miss you -Longing for your return,Or how much good we wish youAs our sorry hearts burnWanting to know to where'er you have flown:Are you with others, or do you dwell alone??
Wherever you are, our hopes goWith you.Our wishes for Good LuckTo see you right through; until one happy day,Cheering, we shall see you again.Until then, its nearing -That day when we'll breathe easy once moreTo see you returning to our green Scottish shore.
You brought up your broodAs a good mother should,You gave them love, shelter and lots of fine food.Although you never once spied a real human faceOr knew of our watching --In our minds you'll always have a very special place.You never will know, just how much we all careYou opened our hearts, and will dwell always there.
(farewell, dear EJ - "will ye no come back again??")