Sparrow Hawk

I was pruning the willows

'coppicing' as they say in that case

I remember years when I was pruning vine stocks

this time of the year and for long:

the eagerly spindling and generous hazel-bushes

A surprisingly mild and familiar mid-January day

willows now and Robin

watching me vigilantly

from the close bare-naked fig-tree branches

his bib all properly rust-red and clean

All of a sudden there was an irritating noise

or... less like a noise, more like

a disturbance in the air, a palpable irritation

I went to the chicken-house

In the fence-protected run I saw no chicken

the hens have a little day-door to free-range their life

but what I saw was a Sparrow Hawk clinging to the fence

He was inside...trapped, most likely while

hunting sparrows that compete with the chicks for their grain

he competes with them... all around:

stealth, alertness, agility, life

I went in

he was suspicious first, hanging from the wire mesh

darting a stern wild look at me that I kindly responded

we took a little time and there was a sweet little turmoil

but the two of us managed

that I could peacefully grab him with my two hands

When I walked out

a bird of prey in my very hands

a live bird of prey with his beak open, the tongue lifted tight

I nearly fell into this wild yellow and black eye

fixed on me all the way to a tree-stump

where I softly let him go with a blessing

he did not seem to weigh a thing and -whoosh-

up in the air: a little storm, gone, see you around brother

I am not sure...do you really think

the human mind itself ever “invented” anything?

Do you think humans “made-up” dragons?