California Saga - The Beaks Of Eagles
The Beach Boys
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An eagle's nest on the head of an old redwood
On one of the precipice-footed ridges above Ventana Creek
That jagged country which nothing but a fallen meteor will ever plow
No horseman will ever ride there
And no hunter will cross this ridge but the winged ones
No one will steal the eggs from this fortress
The she-eagle is old, her mate was shot long ago
She has now mated with a son of hers
When lightning blasted her nest
She built it again on the same tree
In the splinters of the thunderbolt
A broken shaft, an old man takes his time about dying
And just at the back, where wildflower bed left her lying
In dawn's new light a man might venture
A horse drawn stage from Monterey
The she-eagle is older than I
She was here when the fires of '85 raged on these ridges
She was lately fledged and dared not hunt ahead of them
But ate scorched meat
The world has changed in her time
Humanity has multiplied, but not here
Men's hopes and thoughts and customs have changed
Their powers are enlarged
Their powers and their follies have become fantastic
Still down the hill a wagon load of bodies lay scattered
Shipwrecked at sea, the limestone ore is all that mattered
They took it from the hills right into the cargo doors
And how many ships have come and gone and there's no standing shore
The unstable animal never has been changed so rapidly
The motor and the plane and the great war have gone over him
And Lenin has lived and Jehovah died
While the mother eagle hunts the same hills
Crying the same beautiful and lonely cry
And is never tired, dreams the same dreams
And hears at night the rock-slides rattle and thunder
In the throats of these living mountains
It is good for man to try all changes
Progress and corruption, powers, peace and anguish
Not to go down the dinosaur's way
Until all his capacities have been explored
And it is good for him to know that his needs and nature
Are no more changed in fact in ten thousand years
Than the beaks of eagles
The eagle's plight, we know that nature's balance is undone
It's the birthright of man to unify and live his life as one
A whisper of the wood will let you soar with your soul