White Crow

I.
My name is White Crow
I christen myself
for who can know better
the dreams
these eyes have seen
and the moments
that make up my life

If it were a choice of my own
I would never have chosen the Crow
My pride would vote sure for one more grandiose
The sight of the eagle
or the charm of the wolf

But the signs still appear
on the sides of these roads
in numbers sadly mostly odd
they answer the prayers asked only through thought
with arrows pointing toward the right

The signs they are there
as thoughts that strike true
in the words that are read
in the lines from the song
that still ring in my head

And again
the signs are there
in memories
that meld with ideas
and build
the foundation of truth
based on the character
and the traits of that bird.

II.
As a young boy I recall
as if in the fog of a dream
at my grandmother’s house
far South of my home
through her tiny backyard
a boy could easily see
a chicken wire pen
surrounding large trees

with a frame built of wood
just past the property line
in a yard that they said
was owned by a witch

In the pen
as my Grandmother told me
which of course I found hard to believe
as I’d always been taught
and seen with eyes they were black
“lives a crow with shining feathers of white”

And as a boy is to do
I was excited and quick
to steal a glimpse
of this oddest of birds
And if my memory
is not fooling me now
it seemed
the first time I ran out it was gone
But late that day
from out the backyard
came the voice of my young brother calling to me

And there
in a chicken wire pen was a bird
with feathers of snow
and the head of a ghost

As a boy I saw and heard
many strange things
but as I recall
-maybe a memory’s trick-
the great pearl bird called
directly to me.

III.
It was our first trip
to the far up North
on a break one morn from scaring the fish
on a smooth rising bank of torn glacial rock
we sat sunning enjoying our lunch
I noticed a flash on the bank of the lake
just across and left from the bank where we were
Through binoculars I found a Bald Eagle had lit
and like us was at rest enjoying his lunch
I watched for awhile as he tore at a fish
and was surprised then to see another bird land

on a log on the shore
within feet of that great bird of prey
a Crow had come down from the pines up above
to challenge
for the dinner himself
as I watched the scene before me unfold
the Crow became bold and hopped just a bit
nearer the Eagle who hopped just away
Then again
the Crow a little bit nearer and the Eagle a little further away
Then the Crow spread
his brazen black wings
like the night spreads over a moonless lake shore
and flew headlong
at the powerful taloned bald bird
who then dove into the air and straight up to the sky
leaving lunch and the shore to the Ebony bird