Post by 2shadows on Nov 24, 2008 11:10:24 GMT -6
My youngest son (who answers equally to Nunda-ee Gayhee (Sun in Face) and his white name Max) and I were coming home after worshiping God. I was content, the weather was cold but the windows on my truck were down and we were chatting quietly about his new hot topic (the card game Magic ™). There was no traffic as we passed a large cemetery and the gentle shiver of the brown leaves blowing across the road reminded me of snow. As we approached a large bridge about a half mile away I could see a large bird in the air, not unusual for we see heron’s, pelicans, and geese routinely, but this one seemed different somehow. As we approached the size of the animal impressed me more and more and I said so to my son. But by the time we got to the bridge itself the bird had flown to my left and it was then I realized that it was a young bald eagle with a wingspan of perhaps sixty inches or so. I stopped my truck in the middle of the bridge and my son and I excitedly pointed it out to each other. It was flying slowly, its wings dipping first this way then the other and finally the eagle dove quickly downwards towards the cold water of the Western Branch of the Elizabeth River. Its claws seemed to just brush the water and then it began to climb rapidly. A large silver colored fish perhaps 18 inches long in its talons. Its powerful wings pummeled the air and it rose in a herky-jerky manner. We both sat there amazed by what we had seen. Huge grins on our faces. We have lived there for 12 years and never seen an eagle much less seen one “in action” as it were. It disappeared into a stand of loblolly pines on the far side of the river. My son turned to me and said “Dad, you know what this means? “ I answered with the question “what does it mean?” he said “The river is coming back, life is coming back, there are fish or else there would be no eagles” I smiled and put my hand on his shoulder. “That’s right son” I said, a great feeling of renewal and of hope coming over me. We drove home not in silence but in joy. I have seen a red-tailed hawk take a snake once and watched another dining on a rabbit it had killed but there was majesty, nobility, a beauty in the eagle. No wonder that such an animal was holy to our ancestors and chosen by the whites for our national symbol. I just had to share this brief event with my friends.