He was perched atop an acacia tree, still as a sentinel, guarding, surveying the savannah. I watched from the stone terrace and took my video camera out at the ready. He watched and I watched him. His gray, white and black wings tucked up against his body, light catching them with a shimmer. He watched and I watched him. His head turned slowly and his body made a slight shudder, wings poked out ever so slightly from his body.  He saw something I could not see. Wings now opening slightly more and there was the telltale crouch in slow motion starting to take place. He watched and I watched him as he lowered his head, elongated his neck, wings poised behind him, a fighter jet ready to take off. And then with one giant motion, the long wings extended, unfurled and his legs lifted off behind him. He tucked them in as he swooped down in one long motion off, up into the air and then down across the broad green savannah. He was sailing on the winds and I watched and filmed as he disappeared into the grasslands.

He was my Martial Eagle and I loved him. It was my 39th birthday and my gift was Eagle Medicine with witness to his flight and his clear eagle eye vision. He showed me the mountains I only dared to dream of. There in the Tanzania savannah. He showed me the way.

Eagle Poem
By Joy Harjo
 
To pray you open your whole self
To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon
To one whole voice that is you.
And know there is more
That you can’t see, can’t hear;
Can’t know except in moments
Steadily growing, and in languages
That aren’t always sound but other
Circles of motion.
Like eagle that Sunday morning
Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky
In wind, swept our hearts clean
With sacred wings.
We see you, see ourselves and know
That we must take the utmost care
And kindness in all things.
Breathe in, knowing we are made of
All this, and breathe, knowing
We are truly blessed because we
Were born, and die soon within a
True circle of motion,
Like eagle rounding out the morning
Inside us.
We pray that it will be done
In beauty.
In beauty.

For real time eagle medicine visit the Stewards of the Upper Mississippi River Refuge bald eagle nest cam. Three adults and two chicks! Magical, wild, majestic. Wildlife and wild birds: the medicine we need to get through these times….