Bald Eagles Poem by gershon hepner

Aloof centurions of the wild
have made a comeback, and now nest
in suburbs where they have beguiled
suburbanites they don’t detest
but don’t admire, either, for
their lives are far superior. They
don’t drive on freeways, but they soar
above the affluent affray
that occupies suburban people.
Bald eagles, these centurions fly
far higher than a church’s steeple
or condominiums in the sky,
no longer an endangered species,
with freedom to look down on us
and splatter us with eagle feces,
which victims surely will discuss,
proposing that we ban these raptors
from suburbs that we love to pave.
You do not need to be their captors
to drive them to an early grave,
or give them DDT to break
their eggs, you merely need to chop
down trees where they have claimed a stake,
or shoot them in a photo-op.

Felicity Barringer writes about the recovery of the bald eagle population, which is now thriving in suburbia (“Bald Eagles, Thriving, Settle Into Suburban Life, ” NYT, June 28,2007) . The poem was also inspired by the tenth anniverary of the death of Princess Diana:

Bald eagles, whose numbers dwindled to historic lows in the early 1960s, are again flourishing and no longer need the protections of the Endangered Species Act, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced Thursday. Here in Florida, bald eagles have thrived for a decade, multiplying to a statewide population of 1,150 breeding pairs and giving this state, with Minnesota, bragging rights as the top eagle haven in the country. Bald eagles, aloof centurions of the wild, seem to have discovered their inner Updike and moved to Florida’s ever-expanding suburbs. They can be found nesting in cellphone towers and raising chicks near landfills and airport runways, along highways and high up in the pine trees of the state’s upscale developments. Here, some people see the birds as part mascot, part amenity — and a thorough blessing. “We’ll be in our backyard, floating in the pool, and see these beautiful winged creatures flying over us, ” said Anne Lubner, an interior decorator who lives in the Grey Oaks subdivision, a gated community in Tarpon Springs.

6/28/07