I Dedicate this to Prasad Kolachana and Kelley Varas; both of you make me feel like a falcon of Gold...... 

    I rise to the crescent moon to the seven stars.

    Beyond history and men,

    Beyond the numbers and words that bind us.

    From the earth

    I rise like a falcon of gold released from a blue egg.

    I fly above and below the great worlds.

    I take the shape of a young boy working.

    I my belly I carry the seed that becomes me.

    Praise the corn that rots and the sedge that rises.

    Praise the emerald heart of earth.

    Praise the coming and going of creatures, the constancy of the world.

    I come from light and to light I return.

    My talons grasp the ring of colors: the gold beak of dawn,

    the blue eyes of day, the deep red blood of dusk.

    I rise .

    In truth I burst on the world like an arrow flung from darkness,

    sparks of fire from my forehead like burning stars streak the sky.

    I gather myself, thought and bone, and burst into flight.

    I soar and know the god who speaks with the voice of flame.

    I am one of the great ones sitting in a field of corn.

    I eat and I am nourished.

    In turn I offer myself, the bread of air, the white spirit of fire.

    I am a falcon of gold.

    I burn with passion and lie still

    I flare and smolder, live and die in a breath.

    I sail on gold wings that fan the breeze.

    I am consumed by fire.

    This is what I am born to:

    To live, to love, to know, to change and embrace the infinite.

    I shall not forget my becoming.