Salutations to a Falcon

May you always be far-seeing, far flying,
wings stretched to sky width,
your speckled breast,
the swiftest cloud in the mountaintops.

You need nothing from me.
Not when your surveillance would give radar fits.
And you can out-strike lightning.

May everything below be subject to your power.
May the tremble of your victims be more obeisance than dread.

Your mind can slow down the flight of another.
Your eyes can recognize small objects a mile away.

May you want to have all of this down in writing.
May you, in fact, really need what I can do.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Penumbra, Poetry Salzburg Review and Hollins Critic. Latest books, Leaves On Pages and Memory Outside The Head, are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Lana Turner and Held.