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A Raven, not a Foe

It was May when I first noticed the moon,

I sat by the window, overlooking the ruins.

I could feel its glow trickle on my skin,

Growing brighter each minute, as the night settled in.

There were myriads of stars littering the sky,

And a lightshow of them falling, like tears when I cry.

It had been a year since I came to this quiet space,

A refuge from people; a new hiding place.

Sanctuary from those that seek my soul,

But I am innocent and not sure of what I don’t know.

I have never knew this type of fear,

But of course my father was always here.

Was I lonely now, all on my own?

I don’t know exactly, but I know I’m alone.

I noticed the wind, like molasses through the trees,

Slowly weaving through branches, with the gentlest breeze.

I decided to dance among the willows that night,

To make friends in the darkness, to remind me of life.

I twirled and leaped through the brush down below,

Humming the familiar tune of my favorite TV show.

I collapsed all at once in the soft grass of the knoll,

And here I let the stars dance across the skies of my soul.

It was then that I noticed, I wasn’t alone,

I heard the flutter of the flapping, over the winds harsh moan.

I remember it clearly just like tonight,

When I learned that darkness carries some light.

It plays in my memory, just like a show,

I am sharing it now, for all to know:

**Flashback**

The darkest of feathers fell from its lofty abode,

On a branch up so high, over an empty road.

Sitting against a darkening sky,

Was a crow.. no a raven, “Am I going to die?”

I crept up slowly to my frolicking foe,

To inquire of its presence, I needed to know!

Sitting their perched as dark as death,

I crept ever so closer while holding my breath.

Deafening is this sequential quiet,

“Make a move beast, I do not buy it!”

I did not realize his stature till now,

A black giant just sitting there on top of the bough.

Arriving my courage began to dissipate,

His striking eyes burn into me, now face to face.

I try to speak but only wisps pass,

Then he rustled his feathers, to speak alas.

“You stand there judging with eyes so pale,

What have I done to you, that I deserve jail?”

“Nothing” I replied, “but you stare oh so grimm,

What will become of me? Will I die to them?”

“Am I a prophet or a soothsayer young one?

I do not know your fate, or what things you’ve done.

I stand aloft with true tales untold,

I wish to tell them to you, but you think me bold.

My feathers are iridescent not boring and black,

The rays of the sun glitter my back.

My call is of command not of death or gore,

I do not wish to be slandered this way anymore.

I do not understand why you paint me so bleak,

Why I’m expressed in your folklore, in the darkest motif.

Mourning and death surround my tale,

Like I prophesied the train wreck, but I didn’t know it’d derail!”

“What train do you speak? What death unknown?”

Then I saw the light glow, of the secret just shown.

“It is there that the men fell victim tonight,

It is there that hunters fight their last fight.”

I will go when it dims to clean up the mess,

A scavenger they call me, a joker at best.”

“You speak of eating the flesh of the dead,

How can you speak such words of disaster and dread?”

“I was born with a job that I must do,

Is it terrible that I am successful, cleaning the world for you?

If I did not fulfill my purpose in life,

Disease would run rampant, and all humans would die.

Painted as the carrier pigeon of death,

I continue forward, cleaning what humans reject.

This is not all that you should know,

I am playful and majestic helping my family to grow.

I can learn and teach just like men do,

I remember everything just like them too.

But I do not destroy my own kind like them,

If anyone is a destroyer I would say it is men.

I am focused on family; I’m not just a bird,

I know how to love, but you think this absurd.”

“I say to you sir, I did not know,

I heard of you death, I never thought of you so.”

I sit puzzled now; confused so completely,

Have I truly heard only tales? Has the world just beat me?

“I was tricked, yes betrayed as a child,

I saw your darkness as death, I heard your voice in denial.

Nevermore they spoke to me, nevermore alas!

But here you are real a true fellow, I grasp.

Excuse me, kind fellow, for my ignorant hue,

It was not my intention, to be judgmental to you.

See I came here to hide from those cruel at the spring,

So I know how it feels, oh, the hurt such lies bring.

See my father was murdered on just such a night,

By a man who had nothing but a raven claw knife.

The townsmen called out omen, that I was a witch,

But I never did witchcraft or even uttered a hiss.

But these vicious men, they now hunt me,

Only emptiness in their hearts and misery.”

“So you are the hunted, they call out to kill?

Fear no more, they’ve perished and burn there still.”

“Burn their still, in the blaze of the horizon?

From the train crash that makes the darkness Brighten?

Is it true my dark feathered friend?

Could this death bring peace that will not end?”

“It may bring calamity if they blame you still,

For a witch could make a train derail at will.”

“I came out tonight, to make friends with the wind,

But I truly believe a true friend he did send.

Do not leave me dear Raven, I enjoy you so,

I will not leave you ever, until death takes my glow.”

“I am free like the wind, to come and to go.

But I will be your friend woman, on one condition though.

Clean my reputation from the filth of mankind,

Remind them, in my absence what would be left behind.

I can hear my family, they are stirring to feed,

The time has now come my friend for me to leave.

Do not forget all these things that I have said,

For in the darkness of night, we all need a friend.