7.2 Hawk on Post

by Eric Chaet

Seize the disappointment, then:
as hawk, emerging from cold gray drizzle
glides across wet clay on dull red-fringed wings
& seizes rounded top of weathered post with firm talons.

Seize the betrayal of your hope again
by another to whom you offered yourself
who never intended to keep pace,
failure of your assessment, plan, effort,
the disregard of those who hurry on
unable to see beyond their fast little orbits,
to accept what would have been your gift.

Bitterly—but briefly!—explore—
lids dropped over eyes—
the flawed basis of your lapses
of vigilance & diligence—

then wait, while cold gusts
before, behind—low, high—right, left—
buffet you, turn you.

Like hawk on weathered wood of post
resolutely, sobriety sustained, shifting, silent,
til—balanced—
without ally, dream, goal, team—or regret!—
accept from one of many competing gusts
energy & a direction—
& cast yourself into the gathering, luminous dawn.

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Picture: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife