Feathers Go Before A Fall

This poem was written on the day before International Earth Day 2005 (35 years after the first Earth Day in 1970!) and dedicated to Gaylord Nelson and all far-sighted persons around the world.

DDT was banned in the U.S. on 6/14/1972. It was not allowed to be used anymore after the last day of that year. It took a while for the food chain of the Bald Eagle to rid itself of toxic levels of the pesticide. Coupled with major tracts of land being set aside for breeding pairs, the numbers of eagles slowly grew. Truly a modern success story!

Just yesterday, I saw two different pairs of eagles soaring over the Mississippi near our home.


Feathers Go Before A Fall

Crossing an isthmus onto an
island in Lake Wappogasset.
Northern Wisconsin is beautiful.
Today was especially so.
The day was early.
The bay was edged with stately pine -
protected and still.

And there it was!

A lone mature Bald Eagle
perched on an exposed limb.
White head and tail glistened in the sun.
Eagles didn't used to be rare in these parts.
Was always a joy to see one!

But not today . . .

High in the tree, a light wind blew.
The eagle seemed unsteady.
Rocking and wobbly.
Tail feathers disheveled -
some missing.
Two tail feathers joined the air as I watched -
landing lightly on the water.

What was wrong?

Someone at camp said that its mate had
died two days before.
Found it floating.

     It won't be long before this one
     dies as well . . . It's the DDT.

That was back in the early 70's.
So different now.
Change happens.
Some, not without effort.

Sometimes, too late.

Sometimes, not at all.

M A Y P E A C E P R E V A I L

Last evening and early  this morning . . . it snowed  no less
than 9 inches here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The snow
made a beautiful background for our outside Peace Pole.

Some years ago, my spouse and I designed and built the
6-foot, cedar-post Peace Pole and set it firmly in concrete
in our  front yard. The words "May Peace Prevail on Earth"
are  carefully painted in black in sixteen different languages
on the Peace Pole's four sides. We had asked each of our
surrounding neighbors to print for us how the words "may
peace prevail on earth" would look in each of their countries
of origin. They were most enthusiastic to do so. One of our
Polish friends even insisted that five words were inadequate
and wrote out a whole paragraph! (When he saw the amount
of space there was . . . he agreed to just the five words.)

We wish you could see it now, out there in the freshly fallen
snow! I also hope and pray that peace will someday cover
the earth . . .