The Eagles Have Landed

Long, long ago, in the land of the eagles
Long, long ago, in the mountains of Mars
Came a young egret who dreamt of adventure
Came a young egret who dreamed of the stars

He started a sect and they called themselves ‘Takers’
They promised to take themselves up to the moon.
They started to take fine feathers from others
Saying their taking would be over quite soon.

The best of the eagles were soon disillusioned
For without their fine feathers they could no longer fly
No longer able to catch their own suppers
Nor fly lazy circles in the bright Summer sky.

The ‘Takers’ by now had convinced all the others
The ones with poor feathers who had never flown well
That with their new wings they would fly much better
However, in practice, the poor birds... simply fell.

Yet such is the power of dreams for the eagles
The ‘Wing-ship' of Takers finally took to the air
The years of hard work, at last, now were over
The Takers were airborne; to space they would dare

Those left behind were proud for their brothers
Yet hungry and thirsty - for few could still fly
But now Eagle-kind would soar through the heavens
To land on the moon at the top of the sky.

Eventually an albatross brought news of the Takers
The eagles had landed - fallen into the sea
Not one escaped from their feathered contraption
All were strapped in and just couldn’t break free

The wise old bird, the albatross, told them
That there is no harm in having high dreams
Just don’t sacrifice what is needed, to chase them
Not everything turns out to be quite what it seems

Dreams are fine - but fly where you’re meant to
Wings won’t work if you fly up too high
Look to your nests and feeding the youngsters
Isn’t it enough to be lords of the sky?