Entry #62

Nature Is Cruel
by David Barber


I watch you circling, your beauty and elegance gliding with ease on the uplift of cold winter air. The crows harass you, attacking you in two’s and three’s, trying to ruin your flight, but you take no notice. You could take them easily with your razor sharp talons, your strength and your split second timing. You are an aerial warrior, a gladiator of the skies.

But, today, you are no match for me. I plummet from high above, reaching speeds that you could only dream of. The bird watchers, busy getting their cameras and tripods ready, would think this to be something to behold; a peregrine falcon attacking another bird of prey, especially a large buzzard. But they are wrong.

Pushing speeds of three hundred kilometres an hour, I reach you within seconds, my talons splaying at the very last second. I hit the crow, claws first. It was coming in on your blind side, but is now falling to the earth, its neck broken and bleeding.

I would never attack you. Again, I have protected you and I will continue to do so. I will continue to love you also, yet nature is cruel and will never allow us to be together.