Island Raptor
by Alice Feeley, RDC
Peregrine falcon makes an island stop along the Atlantic Flyway.
Banded, ready for release on a ridge
where music and words of wedding have begun.
Blessings are about to be raised
when falcon’s lift off calls for silence, wonder.
No one knows where it is going, only where it has been
but stories of this raptor’s global migration
will be revealed from a tell tale ring.
Wedding guests wave the falcon well
on its uncertain paths beyond.
Here on autumn grass a chance to breathe in grandeur,
love now pledged, committed
under the penetrating eyes of a falcon
who mates for life and
nests in cliffs close to the edge.