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The Eagle and the Serpents
Michael Boldea Jr.
I dreamt I was walking through a sparsely wooded forest, and suddenly my attention was drawn to an eagle flying high above the tree line. It was a beautiful sight to behold as the eagle rode the thermals, flying in slow lazy arks across the blue sky. I began to quicken my pace, and keep up with the eagle's flight, all the while keeping an eye on it, noticing that it was slowly descending toward the earth. I followed it for a long time, its descend not being sudden but very gradual.
Finally I came upon a small clearing, where there were no trees, just some bushes on the edges of the green grass. The eagle landed in the clearing, and began to look around not seeming to notice me.
As I began to wonder what the relevance of this was, a man dressed in white, hands clasped in front of him, appeared beside me, and said, "Be patient, in due time you will see the purpose."
I was silent as I watched the eagle, and was beginning to grow somewhat impatient, when suddenly, it seemed out of nowhere, a brown snake lunged at the eagle, and bit down on its left wing. The snake's strike was very quick and very precise. The eagle reacted without delay, clawing and pecking at the snake cutting deep wounds in its underbelly, trying to defend itself and ward off the serpent. Just as it seemed the eagle was winning the battle, and the serpent was retreating, another serpent appeared, red and black diagonal stripes covering its body, and without hesitation struck out at the eagle's right wing, biting down, and refusing to release. After a momentary tug of war the serpent tore off flesh and feathers, leaving a large wound on the eagle's right wing. The second bite was much worse then the first, and for an instant the eagle was stunned. Then a serpent much larger than the previous two, made up of many colors, slithered toward the eagle, opened its jaws, and lunged, taking the whole of the eagle's head in its mouth before biting down.
The serpents retreated and the man who had been standing beside me, walked to the eagle, knelt down, picked it up, and held it in his cupped hands. The look of grief on his face was beyond any I have seen in my life. Just seeing the look on the man's face broke your heart.
The man continued to look down at the eagle, and with a pained voice said, "The true tragedy, is that at any moment it could have sought the safety of the above, it could have soared toward the heavens and would have found its protection. This has been revealed to you, that you may know, the first bite has been, the second is yet to come, and the third will be its destruction.