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A Night in the Tower
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A Night in the Tower |
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ShadowRider Senior Member
since 2001-07-14
Posts 1038USA 
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? One Night in a Tower? It loomed like a giant's finger, a tower just out of reach of detail with mortal eyes, yet it followed me along the woods edge as I moved toward it. Funny how large objects seem to move on their own as we move towards it. The grueling walk into the center of the forest refused to daunt me as a bright symphony of natural life danced around the over-used green palettes and the brittle snapping of tree-hands fallen to the roots under my hiking boots. My lungs licked at the freshness of the air - my skin tantalized by the slightly cool twilight breeze: one of those delightful experiences that sends body to mind images weeks after it occurred. Landmarks flashed and were dutifully logged as I proceeded toward the tower. I had offered to take the night watch since the holidays were upon us and many a careless camper without the proper sense to take extra precautions could turn God's beautiful playground into a fireplace without a second thought. There was little this far out to stem the tide of a blaze, and any small fire could rapidly turn into a dazzling inferno within just a few seconds. The hip radio crackled, snapping me back into the technology of now as David back at dispatch checked in on his hourly report. He reprimanded a new campers for poaching some camping wood, but otherwise, a quiet evening loomed ahead. Reaching into my breast pocket, I fished out and popped some sunflower seeds into my mouth as the sojourn came to its conclusion. Upon reaching the tower, the daylight sun had all but disappeared, leaving the wooden behemoth to scratch the moon's underbelly, conveniently rising just above the towers apex. Hand over hand, looking over the shoulder, the forest shrank before me as I grew larger, and it smaller while I climbed. A barely carved out grassy road snaked to my left, and Lake Shanawa to my right shimmered lightly as the nightlight tickled the water's surface in rhythmic silver glints. I pushed upon the Forest Ranger tower door, stripped off my backpack, and promptly uncorked a plastic glass of coffee. Even here, in the middle of a forest reserve, a distinct sense of moldiness and staid dust came from the shut-up treehouse. I pulled out the evergreen sprig and snapped it releasing a new odor that combated and overcame over-aged bottled air of the building. It could have been an hour, perhaps two, that I realized that I had been absently staring out over the serenity letting the vision spread before me deep deep into consciousness so that the slightest deviation would become apparent in a heartbeat. Still...it was only stillness. The night was timeless without the interruption of mankind to scar the rhapsody of forest night. Yet, something did happen that night. Something that perhaps few living people will ever see. I was leaning over the ledge with some wide-lensed binoculars when a huge shadow covered the tower. Immediately I felt violated. Being much higher than all living things gives a kingly sensation that only perpetuates the longer one gazes from the high perch. There he was! The king of kings: an American bald eagle that whirred surreptitiously in large looping arcs around the tower. He was asserting his dominance even here to me and passed within 50 feet of me in a direct intercepting line before rising like a fighter jet straight up and over the top roof. Barely a sound he made, and then he vanished. An awed sigh later, I turned to the south side of the railing and peered again once more, looking for any signs of trouble. That feeling one gets from being watched permeated me minutes later, as another shadow winged its way over me, breaking the light of the moon. In glorious silhouette, a female eagle, much smaller than the male circled in a similar arcing pattern around the tower. It may have been just the night wind, but I thought I heard her coo's - a gentle calling, and it wasn't too much longer before her beau flew wing to wing with her as each swooped and glided as though the air was an ice-rink made only for them. Mesmerized, I felt I was ethereal with them, an unfelt passenger in their midnight aerobatics. Suddenly, she broke the formation and tried to outdistance him. They circled a few times, while he drew along side of her, and then with talons distended, he gripped his bride without losing a beat of wings. Should I turn away, in quiet modesty, but no. . .I couldn't. Two huge creatures defied gravity and flew as one, driving straight into the heart of the moonlight: a perfect profile of nature at its most natural. The courtly care he showed her proved that there was chivalry to be found even in the animal world as he upheld her in a magic carpet of romance, and there they coupled. When it was over, without a backward glance she flew away until she became but a dot in the distance. The great male eagle simply kept on his glide path, aloof, and stately. She was off, I supposed, to build some great aerie in some even greater tree for the offspring-to-be. It was almost the end of the shift, and daybreak as the male circled the tower a bit closer one last time. I couldn't help but nod with an understanding smile at him, not caring if he ever saw it or not. With one giant flap, he banked sharply and took off in the same direction she had gone. Then an amazing thing happened, just a codicil to a remarkable evening: Perhaps I imagined it, perhaps not, but he almost stopped in midair, turned his body in full profile to me, dipped his large wing at me, held it for an extended moment, and was gone. |
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amusemi Senior Member
since 2001-12-08
Posts 1262A State of Disarray |
Wow! What a sight that must have been and such a treasured moment. To see creation in such close proximity had to have been awe inspiring. I can't help but laugh at the thought that it would be niceif humans could do things so eloquently!! Beautiful write. Thank you for sharing!! |
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ShadowRider Senior Member
since 2001-07-14
Posts 1038USA |
i only wish i had seen these things firsthand. This is totally fiction, an inspiration from life. I was thinking how easy we take our loving acts for granted, and how they are heaven-sent if we can only take a pleasurable moment to see and feel them like we did the first times we saw them. I am humbled and grateful for your nice reply, A. Thankx....and enjoy your day! tSR |
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