The Eagle

Bestiary-blogging, entry 5 of 9

Three years ago, my son Terry and I wrote a young adult fantasy novel called The Poem Beasts. It is currently submitted for consideration at a major publisher. In honor of the opening of the movie of The Hunger Games, a major work in the young adult genre, we offer a taste of our work—nine days of the poems of The Poem Beasts.

The Eagle

"Eagle" woodblock print by Terry Price.

Transcription:

The raptor rides on the roaring winds

An eagle in flight with flaming feathers of red

Prometheus breaks beneath his bloodstained beak

Voracious reaver with vicious claws

Sent by Jupiter’s fury, daily feasting on immortal flesh

Tormenting the Titan bound for eternity

Beautiful to behold and as bold as the gods

The entrusted enactor of Jupiter’s enmity and false justice

Is doomed to duel to a pre-ordained death

The mightiest hero of history, the sky king’s son, Hercules

Historical Background:

The eagle and the bull are the two most important animal symbols of Zeus (known as Jupiter in Roman times). When Prometheus stole fire from Olympus to give to humanity, Zeus grew enraged and had the disobedient Titan bound to a rock at the end of the earth, apparently located in the Caucasus Mountains. Each day, an eagle would come to peck out Prometheus’ liver and each night his liver would regenerate. The intention was for this torture to continue into eternity. He was eventually freed by Heracles (Roman name: Hercules) who slew him with an arrow given to him by Apollo. According to the playwright Aeschylus, Heracles prayed, “May hunter Apollo speed my arrow straight!”

Heracles, Prometheus, and the Eagle from a Krater
(a large two-handled bowl), circa 625-575 BC, in the
collection of the National Museum, Athens, Greece.

© 2012 Lee and Terry Price