Like an Eagle in the Air

Up the mountain I pulled and fought

The thinning air and jagged stone

Cross the snow fields and clinging brush

I slipped and stumbled all alone.

Stopped to catch my breathe I saw

A shadow cross the cliffs ahead.

Squinting, straining I found the life

Through icy skies, on the path it led.

A soaring eagle found her way

Around the stony precipice

And traced a line about the rock

As I stood panting, motionless.

Naught to do but awe and envy

So freely moving where I was barred.

Indifferent to one who could not join her

No doubt seeing me below, ignored.

But whose joy is grander still,

With room above to dream and hope?

A lofty path revealing all,

Or breathless struggle down below?