The Hawk of Gold

After "the last two weeks'" posts about hawks, reading poems about hawks and different beliefs and representations of hawks in nature and in ancient cultures, especially studies in the ancient Egyptian culture, along with the poem by Aleister Crowley who saw the hawk-god Horus as one of the foundations of his religious theory, I had to wonder about a visit that turned "a golden hawk against the turquoise heavens" from lore to legend yesterday just outside my door.

Previously, when I was taking a semester course about Edgar Allen Poe I kept having a large black raven that came and roosted on the street lamp post that stands next to where I park my car in front of my apartment. He would especially like it when my phone would go off while I was checking my oil and it would play "Electric Feel" by MGMT. He would flap his wings and make a lot of caw-ing sounds. He even tapped on my window one morning which woke me when I overslept and I would have missed class.

I wanted to feed him, but when I checked on the habits of crows and ravens, I found out from Wild Birds Unlimited in OKC that if you make the mistake of feeding a crow, they will return with lots of their friends and can become pests and even destructive if you don't supply them all with food! So I thought I'd let nature take care of itself and enjoy the visits while they lasted.

However, yesterday was the first time I have had a golden hawk appear roosting at the top of the same light post. He watched with huge golden eyes, looking down on us as we passed him, and only when I got excited about the unusual occurrence and squealed in excitement that a hawk would appear so close to my house inside the area where I live did he decide to take flight back to the tree tops.

In the years I have lived in Edmond, it is the first time I have seen a large hawk, the type that is usually only seen in rural areas and not the small urban dwelling gray Georgian hawks. I was amazed when our eyes met!

I don't believe that things happen by coincidence, which made me think, "Are we being watched?!" Maybe only the hawk-god Horus or Mr. Crowley knows for sure! But look at those amber-colored eyes!!