Concerning a Daytime Owl

It was daylight broad as Mother Nature's

green and fecund hips, and the sun ha1f-changed

the brown and brittle grass to hammered gold.

If it had been summer the grass would have

grown up green and cat's eye yellow through the

upraised rib bones of the scavenger-picked

deer skeleton. If it had been summer -

but it was still winter, and broad daylight.

Nature gave the white bones no protection.

His shadow seemed another animal

racing feral through the open ribcage

as the owl swooped in and perched on the bones.

He glanced around; his feathers fluffed as in

a shiver. He looked up into the sun,

opened his wings to gather up the light,

and flew off. Darkness soon enough followed.

G. S. Morris