The Crow's Eye

The Crow’s Eye The man had a good life in his house in the woods Never to worry Never to grief Perfectly content Him and his family worked together They built the barn The house All handmade The man was curious about one thing Every day Always the same Unceasing A crow in the tallest tree was watching Its gaze steady Never moving Always staring It did not matter if it was night or day The crow remained Eyes glinting In silent malice Curious, the man investigated the tree There was no nest No food No tracks The man grew annoyed, and thought it was bad luck He began planning Set traps Made bait His family was exited for a crow dinner But it stayed Watched Waited As the man’s fervor and desperation grew His family worried Helped Watched Until one day, he grabbed his gun Took aim The crow watched He fired A hit! The crow fell from the tree, limp He ran Tripped Rushed, triumphant He reached the crow, where it landed But what he saw There was nothing But one thing One black feather was all that remained on the ground No crow No blood No remains The man, confused looked back at the tree, and stared The crow was there Watching Waiting The man was furious, his family was frightened He stormed Fumed Screamed His family tried to calm him down, but then he snapped A knife A thud A cry The man looked at his hands, and wondered what he had done No more dinner Weeks of work The crow The man grabbed his axe, and ran to the tree He swung And swung And cut it down But as it fell, the crow with it, he looked back at his home once more. There was no knife There was no body There was no blood The man did not understand. He was confused. Where were they? Where was he? He no longer knew. And as the crow flew down and landed on the man’s shoulder. The man realized He stood alone In the nothing There was never anyone else in these woods A delusion A wish A dream. As the man collapsed on the forest floor, crying The crow watched Blinked And turned. As the crow flew, the man cursed it, and it looked back It’s eye glinting Watching Cursing And the man knew no more.