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The Double-Headed Eagle
- The Double-Headed Eagle -
What marvels dwell in nature: that call a spirit so errantly,
From places that we call our home, to range so furiously…
And I in years now long ago, to a mountainside did climb!
There seeking closeness to the earth, and to the far divine.
What led me there I cannot know, only some compulsion,
To seek something lost to this time, free of time’s erosion.
Through swamp and bog, and trail by the sea’s hot sands,
Across rock and under tree, I went across so many lands!
Far from brotherhood and lodge, yet with trusty compass,
I sought the intangible and I left behind all worldly distress.
My feet came to stand upon a crag surveying five domains,
And from there, I spied a tower overlooking fruitful plains.
There I steered my course, and in due time there I arrived,
At the high mount where the tower stood like a giant alive!
The pinnacle was a beacon, a former lighthouse long ago…
Moved, perhaps, from some shore to face mountain snow.
I felt so small before that tower like a mortal before a god,
And, I entered the doors that led therein, feeling very odd.
My feet upon the stairwell within winding up to the clouds!
As fog enshrouded that mountainside: in gathering crowds.
The beacon of old, symbol of illumination,
Kept well its’ secrets, without consternation.
For the lighthouse was silent, even patiently,
Waiting for the moment to pass, with dignity.
At the top I stood at last, in the house of the great beacon,
Though empty now, of any light that could the fog weaken.
A little girl wearing a red dress much in medieval fashion…
Greeted me with a voice filled with a more mature passion.
Upon her breast, she wore a gold eagle with twin heads…
And I sensed she was no ordinary child, who lightly treads.
Thirteen years I knew she had seen, only thirteen no more,
And she had seen them far away upon some foreign shore.
Oh child, what do you here, in a lighthouse upon this crag?
She said she waited to talk with me, not of herself to brag.
Oh child, how lofty is your estate, that it would be so bold,
To merely tell me whence you came so far and not so old?
But she would not speak of herself, and looked in my eye,
Searching for something deeply, something that cannot lie!
Look out the window, and tell me what it is that you see…
This: the child imperiously spoke and thus commanded me.
And so I gazed through the glass, and saw an eagle broad,
With two heads upon one body as would make one awed.
I told the beautiful girl, and she smiled with great serenity…
Saying I had passed an ordeal and struggled most valiantly.
The child became a woman beyond beautiful,
A goddess made flesh, her form ever youthful.
In three degrees it passed, like some initiation,
And I was the initiate, to a much higher station.
She took me by the hand and led me down the stairs fast…
And out the tower on the mount, along foggy trails that last,
For seeming miles around the mountain through old forests!
I felt like a modern-day knight upon the strangest of quests.
Finally we came to a waterfall, by a log bridge on a stream,
And she did cling to me as we crossed as if in some dream.
We sat upon a wide rock on the other side and we spoke…
Of things so secret, strange, and hidden, as to seem a joke!
What is the double-headed eagle, I asked seeking to learn,
And she put her hand on my heart, asking for what I yearn.
Then, she placed her lips on mine and we kissed entwined,
Like one being with two heads, and one heartbeat sublime.
When the kiss ended, I was at the top of the mount alone…
Walking towards a distant tavern as the sun brightly shone.
Someone played a piano within and sang most welcoming,
That I went inside and sat for a while as my voice did sing!
When I left, I saw the tower on high and met a certain girl,
Who wore, a double-headed eagle pendant made of pearl.
I smiled politely and walked along, and she called out loud:
Remember that love is what you seek like the eagle proud!
What marvels dwell in nature: that call a spirit so errantly,
From places that we call our home, to range so furiously…
And I in years now long ago, to a mountainside did climb!
There seeking closeness to the earth, and to the far divine.
What led me there I cannot know, only some compulsion,
To seek something lost to this time, free of time’s erosion.
Through swamp and bog, and trail by the sea’s hot sands,
Across rock and under tree, I went across so many lands!
Far from brotherhood and lodge, yet with trusty compass,
I sought the intangible and I left behind all worldly distress.
My feet came to stand upon a crag surveying five domains,
And from there, I spied a tower overlooking fruitful plains.
There I steered my course, and in due time there I arrived,
At the high mount where the tower stood like a giant alive!
The pinnacle was a beacon, a former lighthouse long ago…
Moved, perhaps, from some shore to face mountain snow.
I felt so small before that tower like a mortal before a god,
And, I entered the doors that led therein, feeling very odd.
My feet upon the stairwell within winding up to the clouds!
As fog enshrouded that mountainside: in gathering crowds.
The beacon of old, symbol of illumination,
Kept well its’ secrets, without consternation.
For the lighthouse was silent, even patiently,
Waiting for the moment to pass, with dignity.
At the top I stood at last, in the house of the great beacon,
Though empty now, of any light that could the fog weaken.
A little girl wearing a red dress much in medieval fashion…
Greeted me with a voice filled with a more mature passion.
Upon her breast, she wore a gold eagle with twin heads…
And I sensed she was no ordinary child, who lightly treads.
Thirteen years I knew she had seen, only thirteen no more,
And she had seen them far away upon some foreign shore.
Oh child, what do you here, in a lighthouse upon this crag?
She said she waited to talk with me, not of herself to brag.
Oh child, how lofty is your estate, that it would be so bold,
To merely tell me whence you came so far and not so old?
But she would not speak of herself, and looked in my eye,
Searching for something deeply, something that cannot lie!
Look out the window, and tell me what it is that you see…
This: the child imperiously spoke and thus commanded me.
And so I gazed through the glass, and saw an eagle broad,
With two heads upon one body as would make one awed.
I told the beautiful girl, and she smiled with great serenity…
Saying I had passed an ordeal and struggled most valiantly.
The child became a woman beyond beautiful,
A goddess made flesh, her form ever youthful.
In three degrees it passed, like some initiation,
And I was the initiate, to a much higher station.
She took me by the hand and led me down the stairs fast…
And out the tower on the mount, along foggy trails that last,
For seeming miles around the mountain through old forests!
I felt like a modern-day knight upon the strangest of quests.
Finally we came to a waterfall, by a log bridge on a stream,
And she did cling to me as we crossed as if in some dream.
We sat upon a wide rock on the other side and we spoke…
Of things so secret, strange, and hidden, as to seem a joke!
What is the double-headed eagle, I asked seeking to learn,
And she put her hand on my heart, asking for what I yearn.
Then, she placed her lips on mine and we kissed entwined,
Like one being with two heads, and one heartbeat sublime.
When the kiss ended, I was at the top of the mount alone…
Walking towards a distant tavern as the sun brightly shone.
Someone played a piano within and sang most welcoming,
That I went inside and sat for a while as my voice did sing!
When I left, I saw the tower on high and met a certain girl,
Who wore, a double-headed eagle pendant made of pearl.
I smiled politely and walked along, and she called out loud:
Remember that love is what you seek like the eagle proud!
Published 15th Aug 2012
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