Jackson Vaughn
Flight
A young tourist lets his adventurous side take flight.
Eyes the color of gold stared back at me, they belong to a peregrine Falcon, this falcon perched upon a gloved hand, that hand belonged to epitomy an Irishman his skin pale, hair red, and his accent thicker than any whiskey you could find down there.
We were in Ireland, obviously, the land of rain, potatoes, and the color green. Behind us stood the castle,its walls were the colors are of steel, the color of night when you look at the dots vines and moss snaked up the walls, as if reaching for the sky. On each of the corners stood a tower monoliths to the trees around it (the towers).
We were flying Falcons today. One of the experiences I will never forget. We walked down the path, gravel crunching beneath our feet and the falcon Heavy in my left hand, heavy for a ten-year-old at least. We cast them off, flying through the sky, feathers flying faster than you can track them.
Bam! A rabbit goes down, a vole, a bird. Experiences you will never forget. They come back to you proud, ready for another send off we continue walking and we arrive at this lake, now this lake it was massive, probably a mile wide and a mile long,, now that doesn't sound very long, but for a ten-year-old, You better believe it.
A marble path led to a burial ground. That burial ground belonged to a viking, so I walked to it stood in the middle the Falcon in my left hand, I decided since I'm surrounded by nature everywhere around me I would cast this Falcon off let it be free, let it come back to me and I would feel the real feeling of freedom the falcon, on the other hand, had other ideas, now when you look at the lake you can see fish darting everywhere, shadows going from reeds to reeds the Falcon decided instead of flying he'd rather catch a fish.
Now,the thing about Peregrine Falcons is that they're not like ospreys where they can go into the water, once they go in the water they're done, so the Falcon dove into the water. We had to go retrieve it, that's something that I will never forget, because not only was that extremely embarrassing, especially for a ten-year-old who thought he was the coolest kid on the block, or should I say the coolest kid in the marble burial ground, but you know that was something I will never forget.
Sooner than I wanted to we were leaving Ireland, the island fading in the background. Though some good things have to come to an end, this one didn't a year later we were back, and I was accepted into the junior falconry program.
Our first hunt, it was beautiful we were at this old farmer's land, dealing with a mole problem we rode the Jeep, it's rickety wheels bouncing us along the old Irish roads. We arrived there, standing in the middle of the field, we retrieved the Falcon from the back of the jeep and we walked. sending them flying, It seemed every time we cast them and mole would go down. That was beautiful, not in the weird kind of beautiful like killing things, but like seeing them fly through the sky, free, doing what they please and yet they always came back. Except when they don't.
One time I cast my falcon off away it went, I waited and waited probably for about ten minutes whistling, wondering you coming back anytime soon?
And when they don’t return you get worried. So we walked we wandered the fields where we hunted. We walked through the forest, we call to the sky, the bushes, the trees, even the ground in hope that maybe just maybe they'd appear, fly back to us and we'd get them back. Eventually, we had to give though after all falcons are meant to be free and maybe they decided it was time to go. So with our heads hung low and a feeling of defeat in our hearts, we marched our walk of defeat to the jeep. Man, what a feeling of embarrassment because personally, as a eleven-year-old now, I felt that it was my fault since I had cast the falcon off. not only was it not my Falcon, it
We got back to the jeep and those golden eyes met my gaze once again, there it was sitting on the mirror. And I understood though some things may feel so lost, they may be closer than they appear.
We were in Ireland, obviously, the land of rain, potatoes, and the color green. Behind us stood the castle,its walls were the colors are of steel, the color of night when you look at the dots vines and moss snaked up the walls, as if reaching for the sky. On each of the corners stood a tower monoliths to the trees around it (the towers).
We were flying Falcons today. One of the experiences I will never forget. We walked down the path, gravel crunching beneath our feet and the falcon Heavy in my left hand, heavy for a ten-year-old at least. We cast them off, flying through the sky, feathers flying faster than you can track them.
Bam! A rabbit goes down, a vole, a bird. Experiences you will never forget. They come back to you proud, ready for another send off we continue walking and we arrive at this lake, now this lake it was massive, probably a mile wide and a mile long,, now that doesn't sound very long, but for a ten-year-old, You better believe it.
A marble path led to a burial ground. That burial ground belonged to a viking, so I walked to it stood in the middle the Falcon in my left hand, I decided since I'm surrounded by nature everywhere around me I would cast this Falcon off let it be free, let it come back to me and I would feel the real feeling of freedom the falcon, on the other hand, had other ideas, now when you look at the lake you can see fish darting everywhere, shadows going from reeds to reeds the Falcon decided instead of flying he'd rather catch a fish.
Now,the thing about Peregrine Falcons is that they're not like ospreys where they can go into the water, once they go in the water they're done, so the Falcon dove into the water. We had to go retrieve it, that's something that I will never forget, because not only was that extremely embarrassing, especially for a ten-year-old who thought he was the coolest kid on the block, or should I say the coolest kid in the marble burial ground, but you know that was something I will never forget.
Sooner than I wanted to we were leaving Ireland, the island fading in the background. Though some good things have to come to an end, this one didn't a year later we were back, and I was accepted into the junior falconry program.
Our first hunt, it was beautiful we were at this old farmer's land, dealing with a mole problem we rode the Jeep, it's rickety wheels bouncing us along the old Irish roads. We arrived there, standing in the middle of the field, we retrieved the Falcon from the back of the jeep and we walked. sending them flying, It seemed every time we cast them and mole would go down. That was beautiful, not in the weird kind of beautiful like killing things, but like seeing them fly through the sky, free, doing what they please and yet they always came back. Except when they don't.
One time I cast my falcon off away it went, I waited and waited probably for about ten minutes whistling, wondering you coming back anytime soon?
And when they don’t return you get worried. So we walked we wandered the fields where we hunted. We walked through the forest, we call to the sky, the bushes, the trees, even the ground in hope that maybe just maybe they'd appear, fly back to us and we'd get them back. Eventually, we had to give though after all falcons are meant to be free and maybe they decided it was time to go. So with our heads hung low and a feeling of defeat in our hearts, we marched our walk of defeat to the jeep. Man, what a feeling of embarrassment because personally, as a eleven-year-old now, I felt that it was my fault since I had cast the falcon off. not only was it not my Falcon, it
We got back to the jeep and those golden eyes met my gaze once again, there it was sitting on the mirror. And I understood though some things may feel so lost, they may be closer than they appear.