Trial of The Eagle

They call it a trial

As if pain needs permission

As if fear turns holy

When the crowd looks away

Stone ledges carved by panic

Wind ripping breath from the chest

Every step bargaining with gravity

Every thought ending in the same word—fall

The city waits below

Silent

Counting

Because belief here only works

When someone almost dies for it

Hands bleeding into the rock

Fingernails breaking like promises

I felt the drop in my teeth

Felt the sky leaning closer

Daring me to slip

This isn’t faith

It’s outsourcing cruelty

To wind and stone and height

So no one has to admit

They enjoy watching

They say the eagle chooses

But gravity decides

The strong don’t rise

They just last longer

Before the ground collects them

I lost my footing

And learned how fast the body lies

When it wants to live

There was no vision

No mercy

Just panic screaming louder than prayer

At the top there’s nothing

No god

No answer

Just the understanding

That survival is not approval

The trial doesn’t prove worth

It proves compliance

It teaches the city

How to stay clean

While blood handles the ceremony

I stood there breathing

Angry

Shaking

Not chosen

Not enlightened

Just not dead

If this is the eagle’s judgment

Then it’s hollow

A lesson written in fear

That mistakes endurance

For truth

I didn’t pass the trial

I escaped it

And that’s the only victory

This place will ever allow