The Snowy Owl

A long, long time ago, I came face to face with a Snowy Owl. Here it is about 60 years later and I still vividly remember the encounter, it was more than a meeting of a boy and a bird, there was something special and kind of spiritual about the meeting.

It was back around 1954, I was 13 or 14, Frank Sinatra was 39 and had just won an Oscar for his portrayal of the Italian-American soldier Maggio in From Here to Eternity. You all should watch the film, it is in my top 10. Elvis Presley was recording his first song at 19, in Memphis Tennessee and I was stareing into the big yellow eyes of a giant pure white Snowy Owl.

I was dragging up my last tree of the night and it was just starting to get dark. The presence of another life form was flooding my senses as I reached the house, looking up, my eyes met the eyes of a creature that seemed bigger than me. It was sitting on the limb of a tree at about eye level so I had to look up into those eyes that had no fear but had a powerful complete command of the situation. It was a moment where I felt it was showing me how to gain and hold power. It gave me a long intense time of connection and then with the power of wings wider then my outstretched arms, it was gone.