SKIRTING the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,)Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles,The rushing amorous contact high in space together,The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel,Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling,In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling,Till o'er the river pois'd, the twain yet one, a moment's lull,A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing,Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight,She hers, he his, pursuing.