Puella Aeterna

Standing with reluctant feet,
where the brook and river meet.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Having climbed to the top of the cliff
she perched near where the falcons nest,
her back at rest against the rock,
and all her future there before her.
In a tableau, there before her.

From the cliff she watched the moon,
hating the shining face that pulled
to a place she did not wish to go,
and she huddled down in a smaller space,
while the falcons settled beside her.

All through the night she felt the changes,
felt her feathers prick through skin,
felt her bones grow light as air,
how her talons gripped the rock;
and heard the scream that rose within her.

She stood to greet the rising sun
that lighted the cliff ledge where she'd perched;
she spread her wings and screamed defiance,
and swooped to meet her mapped-out future,
spread like a tableau there before her.