Toendaneagle 12-14-17.Pdf
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Copyright © 2017 by H. Kirk Rainer ISBN Pending Published by MY HOME INDUSTRY Published as a “Campaign Version” and as such, is not for sale or distributed for profit. Other books by H. Kirk Rainer include: A Once and Always Father A Father and Future Felon His Children are Far from Safety IN THE LESSENING Tall Tells to on Tredegar Cove Him Who Cares Till When CONSPIRANT COLONIES For more information, visit www.hkirkrainer.org or visit the author’s blog, www.volkswagenvagabond.com. Eli’s journey IN THE DAYS An Eagle i To End iii In the Days v Daddy-Dumb vii BEFORE WHAT BECAME What it is 1 It creeps 5 Dead or not 9 Dream on 13 TO FLY AGAIN You cannot fly 17 Scandals fly 21 Take me home 25 Much harder 29 TO QUESTION Cannot force 33 Triumphant 37 Do not flock 41 Tranquility 45 AS YOU ARE…OR WERE You know 49 You are alone 53 You are 57 You pretend (dream) 61 You see 65 You Fool 69 BEFORE THE LOW Forever 73 Wisdom 77 Is that you? 81 Vision 85 At a glance 89 In the storms 93 Wounded by its own 97 An Eagle in me 101 A strange world 105 Life is… 109 Side effect 113 To be determined 117 The worst thing 121 I still hope 125 Keep your fears 129 My reality 133 IN THE LOW Your eyes sound to you 137 My blood is 141 Clever enough 145 Someone’s darkness 149 Her pride of place 153 Without sacrifice 157 On a lark 161 Go, going, gone 165 Mockingbird 169 In vain 173 Love self 177 It was… 181 Eli’s journey BENEATH THE LOW Sadder sound 185 Make you crazy 189 Dying with the dead 193 Debauched canary 197 For a reason 201 I just lost 205 Silent to chatter 209 Rode his shoulder 213 Who nailed the goose 217 Plucks you 221 Symbol of charity 225 And the pelican 229 IN THE LOW, AGAIN Hope rises 233 Dare to rise 237 Like a peacock 241 Tried 245 A moment’s insight 249 Simpler but profound 253 Dream of Eagles 257 She moves 261 Kind of ashamed 265 Distract You 269 Dandified Vulture 273 Born of violence 277 Strangling it 281 Creeps out 285 TO THE HIGHER Renewal of life 289 So long as 293 Bound up 297 Flower 301 Would I fly? 305 Peaceful way 307 NOTES Eagle facts 308 Heroes’ journey 309 Characters-symbols 310 Character relationships 311 Eli’s journey 315 Seven deadly 317 Seven magnificent 319 Abyss (dark-side) 320 Apathy (darker) 321 “Fly Like an Eagle” 322 Influences-Inspirations The single most transformational event [ ] is fatherhood…. That is the sweet spot. - Josh Levs, All-in There is no such things as darkness, only a failure to see. - Malcolm Muggeridge An Eagle I am [an] eagle, I live in high country with rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky. - John Denver, “The Eagle and the Hawk” I remember “John’s Denver’s Greatest Hits” and this song among others, where the words beckon us to soar and to see as they (the eagle and the hawk) do. Can you be an eagle, a creature of such caliber? Renowned for its greatness, an eagle is the chosen character to stand center in this allegorical story. Predominate and with few predators or apparent threats, the bird stands further as a prestigious symbol for nations and brands, peoples and products. What would it be like, to soar to such heights and distance? Sure, you can fly, but seldom is the chance to really wing-it—to feel the full measure of flight pulsate through your body, the levitation of your whole, the embodiment of aerodynamic forces? If you have ever skydived then you have probably experienced the closest experience to the real thing. No, I have not jumped out of a plane or hurled myself off a cliff, but I think that these feats are the closest, though still distant, from this experience on whole. Nor does remote viewing (such as Go-Pro) or multiplex theaters work (in case you were considering it). You have to fly to know flight! An eagle is a high flyer enabling it to see much; from its perch and keen vision comes many observations, sightings and scenes. With such vision and precision the predator seems undaunted, unmatched. Vision and precision are obvious qualities…and if that were not enough, the high-flier mates for life and partners in the raising/rearing of offspring; two qualities that add much to the choice of an eagle for this story as you will discover. Who better brought low—very low—than the exalted and elevated eagle? i IN THE DAYS Other birds and a few non-feathered creatures comprise the character list; each and all as supporting cast that in some way influence and even impede the eagle’s journey, mission. Seeing is more than believing and even more than reading; for between thoughts and lines are the questions that sometimes arrive and depart without clear, concise answers. An overly used sounding perhaps, but life is a mystery for which we each may never know or begin to understand why things happen, and particularly the seemingly bad things that we log as losses, critical and catastrophic. It seems like a freak of nature; that bad things would happen to this noble creature but the eagle is just as threatened as any and every creature and creation. And as much of creation is threatened by nature and human will and way, the question of why bad things happen is better reasoned through the realization that the forces around and within us are not known, understood or even acknowledged. This eagle does not always live in high country; it does not always fly in those figuratively high, lofty places or experience the creature comforts even among lower forms. No, it must sometimes bear a burden much greater than the prey it carries while proceeding well below comfort without any sense of depth let alone the degree from earth to end, the journey of life and living. In the journey still, Eli the eagle must reach for the heavens and hope for the future and be all that we can be and not [only] what we are at present. How far, the depth and distance, will Eli go? For without knowing what lies ahead in such a venture, the eagle is not necessarily able to answer the question—to know the limits that one could or would go to save their themselves or perhaps those whom they hold more important than themselves. This eagle is more than a creature, more than a monument of nobility; it is a messenger serving as both the eyes and the energy to elicit our minds and perhaps our hearts to perceive what is happening in the present and to plan and prepare as to end and eagle. ii To End Imagine something big, made out of glass, [that is] called fatherhood slowly sinking [then] imagine it suddenly shattering into pieces. [ ] In this direction, what is best…? - David Blankenhorn, Fatherless America Where fatherhood goes, so goes marriage, and where marriage goes, so goes society. If fathers stop practicing parenthood than the child suffers personally, family suffers particularly and society suffers in general and indefinitely. Fathers are the foundation of a free society. Imagine the classic song, “Where have all the flowers gone”, with an added verse, “Where have all the fathers gone…” How might the verse, the song, reply? Did the fathers die in war or did they walkout, abandoning their own while turning selfishly inward? Maybe the song would offer multiple reasons—more attune to reality—as to absence of dad, father, as a developing and disturbing trend in our society. Not only an escalating environment of fatherless children but also a declining marriage rate; these related trends portend of the societies’ decline, demise. Only about half of our adult population is now married as a sign of serious societal problems, now and ahead. Is a declining marriage rate due to high rates of divorce or is it because younger folks are irresponsible or immature? I believe their reasons for refraining from marriage are many—not the least of which is that marriage has become more risky, the likelihood of long-term commitment in much doubt as much decline. Is marriage dying? Taking this question and its possible answers to task, this fictional account takes me beyond the complexities of modern humanity to the seemingly simpler possibilities for an eagle, his offspring. Yet because it is an allegory, this story must include some human-like conditions and characterizations. The fact that the eaglets go missing seems unnatural iii IN THE DAYS to me but then I begin this book without more than a passing understanding of nature and its plight, the travails of life and living. What is necessary is that the eagle and other characters possess certain or even abstract, human characteristics. It is vital for the story to resonant with readers, the losses and longings of the eagle understood with sympathy, even empathy, as well as other senses of the humankind. Thoughts, words and actions must be indistinguishable from what you or I would do if our family was lost, missing and possibly more, from the initial shock to the prevailing and indefinite sadness. To end a life is not the end of life, so it seems. Some believe in an afterlife that, by whatever conditions or through whatever course, puts the soul in a perpetual eternity of perfection and placidness.