Poem: In Tandem

In Tandem

You mentioned having seen a Bald

Eagle yesterday coming home

From Spokane—or was it two? Yes,

One flying, you said, the other 

Guarding its prey. Then this morn

I read a poem “To a Lady”

All about falconry, those birds 

Of prey. He was on distant seas

Writing to his love what he thought

Were his last words and I don’t see

Falconry anywhere in it

Except those aboard the ship when

It was about to wreck, hence he

Thought he would die. I don’t even 

Know if he was Coleridge or

Fictional, though I know Sam died,

Not in a shipwreck, but perhaps, he

Knew ship of such named Falconry?

So my thoughts spin twixt you and me

And birds of prey and ships on sea

And poets long since died away

Except in their verse that lingers 

Still on page, in thought and memory.

I know these are not my last words

But, at times, it seems, we’re tossed

Upon a raging sea and there

Together we see two eagles

Wild and free together catching

Updrafts in the wind and floating

Sometimes in tandem and sometimes apart

Yet always together. That’s how 

We are.

January 2024

About This Poem

This poem is basically about how people grow together as they age in marriage. And, yes, it's about seeing Bald Eagles in the wild, which is fascinating to me because it is no longer rare. Growing up you just didn't see Bald Eagles. Now, perhaps, they will continue in tandem with us as something normal, not rare. Strange things like eagles, people--dead and living, land and water, have a way of intertwining here and it is something, like marriage, to celebrate. I don't know where I took this picture. It's just in my camera roll.