the eagle beak & other myths 

i am a connoisseur of misinformations. 
inside each is a truth. this week my favorite
is the eagle beak myth which is the idea
that in their old age eagles fly to the top
of the mountain & scrape their beaks & talons off
to grow new ones. don't we all want to know
that rebirth is just one wound away?
in facebook swamps, people post low-quality 
images of eagles with a caption about their 
false journeys & their beakless faces. the beak
is not a separate part though. it is, like a jaw
sewn into the eagle's face. this is a myth
about immortality. the comments are full
of believers. they praise the eagle. they say,
"nature knows all" & "god is great."
i saw an eagle only twice in my life.
once, i was a girl & he was lost. he was
truly beakless. his feathers were ragged & he sat
on a log in the middle of the forest near my house. 
i could tell he was old or maybe sick. i wondered where
eagles go to die. did they have burials or did they
plummet from the sky? i tried to bring people there 
to help him. was it my father? my uncle?
when we returned, the creature was gone.
i wonder why the believers invented this story about
the eagle when there is already so much to learn
from them. their eyes, like visiting suns. 
the second time was on a mountain. wind cut
across the ridges. the bird was far away,
gliding perfectly. proud beaked & huge.
you cannot skip death. rebirth is a cut seam 
in the teeth of the moon. all the water pouring out
like a pitcher mouth. the feathers, falling 
as postcards. what if we will never be new again? 
the second eagle told me,
"even if i could, i would not let go of my beak."