Larry Thomas

 The Hawk in Rehab

                                                They surmised
                                                it broke its wing
                                                colliding in a dive,
                                                spiraled to the ground
                                                with its one good wing,
                                                and soon found itself

                                                netted by hunters
                                                not far from where it fell.
                                                So still we thought it dead,
                                                it stared straight through us
                                                as if at something
                                                faraway, well beyond

                                                its reach, its bandaged wing
                                                slowly mending,
                                                aching for the haleness
                                                of its gaze,
                                                its liveness belied
                                                but by its blinking.