Jerry Ferraz

 

THE CRY

 

All day long
this hawk has been crying
circling and circling
over the hills and ravines
searching everywhere it seems
like he's lost his mate or something
talking with a neighbor
says he's never seen
such weird behavior
kinda spooky
it's shadow creeps
over the treetops
what's left of our redwoods
those guardian spirits
fumbling with my shades
one lens pops out
oh! oh!
according to my book of dreams
this means bad luck
but I don't believe it
its all these bozos
with their guns
and off-road vehicles
tearing up the lands
shooting everything that moves
instead of getting angry
I follow Ivy
with her smiling eyes
and shining coat
into a blooming meadow
and to a cryptic scattering of feathers
in the grass
signs of a struggle in the air above
a fight beween a hawk
and a kite
another common predator
no doubt who won this one
my dog got it right
It was the very cry of victory we heard
over those fields
not the misfortune I thought
but a blessing
now I understand
as if waking from a dream
all the vain imaginings of the mind
float off down stream
and I find myself
alone
putting a sacred feather
on the dashboard
I head for home.

© Jerry Ferraz, June 2011