From The Innkeepers

On Eagle’s Wings -February 2022 Blog

The idea for this blog came from the confluence of two experiences. Recently while at the local library I spotted the new memoir by Joy Harjo entitled the Poet Warrior. She was the first Native American to serve as Poet Laureate of the US, and one of my personal favorites for a long time. It was very moving for me to read about how she coped with the heartaches and losses throughout her life. She reveals the rich history of her relationships with many of her ancestors and her ancestral lands that led her down the road of being a poet warrior. Much of her poetry was interwoven in the pages of this life story, however one of my favorites, which is called Eagle Poem was not included in her latest book. When I finished reading the memoir and realized it wasn’t there, I felt a sense of incompleteness. I needed to revisit the words of that missing poem before considering my recent walk thru Joy Harjo’s life more complete. The internet search was an easy one, and after re-reading this poem a few times I made a printed copy to keep close just in case I needed to re-visit it with greater frequency. I will share The Eagle Poem with you later in the blog.

The second experience happened recently when Pat and I took a trail walk around the Inn’s property. We had a beautiful, very cold but sunny winter’s day with mostly blue skies. Not wanting to let the day go by without the pleasure of immersing ourselves in it, we headed out onto our snowy landscape. When we first started on our walk a bald eagle paid a visit and flew in close towards us and landed atop a small tree at the water’s edge near one of the snow- covered floating islands on the wetlands. This visitation was truly a gift of this day, clearly surpassing any gift that could be obtained at a mall or on-line shopping sites. He sat there for a while, but as we progressed northwards he flew to the next set of island vegetation, keeping an eagle eye on us, or so it seemed. As we rounded the trail and turned toward the west, he then flew off in a westerly direction over us and perched higher in a treetop at the meadow’s edge and watched as we progressed. Then we reached the trail’s end, nearer to where he was hanging out watching us from his perch in the tree. We turned around, and as we did so we could see that he tired of us and abruptly flew off to parts unknown. We felt he wanted to accompany us on part of our journey this day but more likely from his perspective he was giving up on obtaining lunch from scoping the vista below as we were interrupting his concentration and interloping on his territory. When we came back inside and warmed up, I was the led again to revisit the words of Joy Harjo in her “Eagle Poem” which I will share with you now.

EAGLE POEM

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.

So too, dear ones we pray that it will be done for you. May eagle’s wings carry you through this life and raise you up to all that is the best of you, to be spread across your universe, your spheres of influence, with the utmost care and kindness that is inside you.

Gratefully,
Marcia, Pat, and Sharon
Keepers of the Rustic Gate