Today, as I was driving down my street, I saw a hawk standing in my neighbor's front yard. Just standing there like some sort of Egyptian statue. This was quite strange and amazing in itself--I don't think I've ever seen a hawk on the ground before, just on telephone poles and wires and in the air (and it's always a thrill for me to see them in any of those places. I see hawks quite often, but they never fail to get my heart pounding a bit faster.) Then the hawk dipped its head down and I saw that it was standing on some sort of creature--a small bird, I believe--that it must have recently killed. The center of the creature's body had been ripped open and was scarlet red inside; the hawk bent down to eat, pulling up one bright dripping strand of flesh after another. It was a brutal thing to witness, but strangely beautiful, too. Such wildness on a manicured lawn. Such raw life seen through the window of my car.