Crow

I spotted the olive branch
and ignored it. It was not
my concern. Freedom
and disobedience went
hand in hand for me
back then.

I think most of you
believe I must have died
out there, tired
and partnerless above the water.
If that were the case,
how could it be that you still know me?

If you look around,
you’ll see my children everywhere.
This is how it happened:
I found my place
anyway, far from
the safety of the ark,

and there was another
of us there, one who’d been
flying for days, exhausted,
bedraggled, another
escapee. I comforted him
and soon we began the race again.

You do not often see us
alone now — sometimes
we travel in pairs, sometimes
in trios, sometimes in flocks.
We know the value of large numbers.
We will not live at anyone’s mercy

ever again. Freedom
and disobedience yet go hand in hand for us.
If you don’t believe me,
consider this: God kept me going,
gave me a mate, gave us a future,
and the doves are rarer than we are.