At Round Pond

owl
make your little appearance now

owl dark bird bird of gloom
messenger reminder

of death
that can’t be stopped

argued with leashed put out
like a red fire but

burns as it will
owl

I have not seen you now for
too long a time don’t

hide away but come flowing and clacking
the slap of your wings

your death’s head oh rise
out of the thick and shaggy pines when you

look down with your
golden eyes how everything

trembles
then settles

from mere incidence into
the lush of meaning.