“The Shibari Series”, Part 4

Young RedTail Hawk, Jane Kohut-Bartels, watercolor

Thank you to those who are reading this series.  I know it isn’t an easy read.  Many have criticized this series, but they, by and large, haven’t read beyond the first few parts.  or so they said.  Empowerment and transformation can be pictured in many ways.  And strength is many times forged by facing  brutal opposition.  At least that is the way I have experienced it.  We all have our own ways growth and empowerment.  

Lady Nyo

Continuing the transformation…..

 

I flew high but it was spring, and the weak thermals did not support my flight. I was hungry, without food, except for the spider. A freshly fledged hawk must learn how to fend for herself.  Beginnings are dangerous.

Cupping my wings, I hovered over a stream, watching the ice break apart far below. Three days of freedom had left me weak, confused and with a troubling need.  Breaking my bindings I was now lost, abandoned to nature, cold and alone.

“Hep-Hep-Hep”.  I heard the ‘call-in’ of the falconer below me, as I floated over the landscape.  Seeing the whirling lure with a rabbit head was too much.  Starved, I spiraled downwards, landing with a thump.

“Good Girl” I heard as the man beckoned me to his glove covered with fresh meat. As I mantled over and stepped up, he slipped a jess upon my left leg, another with silver bells on the right.

“Good Girl” I heard again as he tied me tightly to a perch.

“Good Girl” as the hood slipped over my head.

At least no one whips a hawk. And there is always the sky.

 

—

Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyrighted, 2017

(this entire series (and more) can be read in the new edition of “A Seasoning of Lust”, published , December 2016, by Amazon.com