Glorybirds

It watched us pass
Our marching feet
Our civilisation
One black bird eye
Unafraid -
Said the crow
You’re only meat
That I haven’t eaten yet

Trees point skyward
Black-fingered fate
List the names of the fallen
Poise waiting for those
Whose time is yet

I grit my teeth
In the wind’s dark bite
On battlefield bleak
Unhopeful of a happy ending
A grin
A grimace
A glancing blow
The smile on a shark
On battlefield
Hope less
In the wind’s dark bite
I grit my teeth
And face away -
From the crow that says
You are only meat
And I haven’t eaten yet

Trees amputated
Black on orange coal glow
The ledgers of loss
Whose pages await
My blood to balance

I will grit my teeth
howl on the abyss’s dark bowl lip
And wolf my bite of hope
On battlefield
We are carrion -
Says the crow
You’re all just meat
That I haven’t eaten yet

June 2014