To Bald Eagle - Brooks Haxton

[Larry Robinson]


To Bald Eagle

You were a good workhorse,
gentle for children to ride.
When I leaned forward on your neck
and whispered, I could feel it
that you understood me.
Even in your old age Henry Davis
would have you prance, and he swung down
from the height of your back, easy
out of the saddle when he was eighty.
The mule that shared your stall
for years, Henry told us after he hauled
your body away from the house,
stood screaming over what was left,
for three days. Then, for a few more seasons,
Henry ploughed his cornfield with the mule.
Now, fifty years later, I’m whispering this to myself.

	- Brooks Haxton