Courtesy of Gregoire Dubois/Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED).
Iolair Mhara
Two eagles lock talons in mid-flight
and tumble together towards the water
as if they’ll never stop falling,
but they disentangle just in time
and ascend to the top
of a scraggy Scots pine.
Still as Ross Island
they roost side by side,
till one of them lifts,
glides over Lough Leane
then makes a thunder-bolt dive
before levelling to snatch a salmon.
Will they settle,
build an unruly nest,
fledge chicks that will spread
from here to Loch Iolar, Binn an Iolair,
Iolard Mór and Iolard Beag?