... the tremendous bird
Now slanting swoops toward them, hovering
Over the fair boy smitting dumb with awe.
A moment more, and how no mortal knows,
The bird hath seized him, if it be a bird,
So lightly lovingly those eagle talons
Lock the soft yielding flesh of either flank,
His back so tender, thigh and shoulder pillowed
How warmly whitely in the tawny down
Of that imperial eagle amorous!