America chose the Eagle as a symbol, not a hawk. So soesn’t that stand for something? Are we not stronger and wiser than the hawk?
To Jeffers, the hawk was an important symbol that he used in many poems. It is a symbol of the ferocity and strength of nature. Civilizations rise and perish but nature abides. We can choose symbols to represent us, but eventually we fall short of our chosen representations, and invent lies. Jeffers’ poem “Faith” speaks to this:
Faith
Ants or wise bees, or a gang of wolves,
Work together by instinct, but man needs lies,
Man his admired and more complex mind
Needs lies to bind the body of his people together,
Make peace in the state and maintain power.
These lies are called a faith and their formulation
We call a creed, and the faithful flourish,
They conquer nature and their enemies, they win security.
Then proud and secure they will go awhoring
With that impractical luxury the love of truth,
That tries all things: alas the poor lies,
The faith like a morning mist burnt by the sun:
Thus the great wave of a civilization
Lose its forming soul, falls apart and founders.
Yet I believe that truth is more beautiful
Than all the lies, and God than all the false Gods.
Then we must leave it to the humble and the ignorant
To invent the frame of faith that will form the future.
It was not for the Romans to produce Christ.
It was not for Lucretius to prophesy him, nor Pilate
To follow him …. Or could we change at last and choose truth?