CROW
Upon the wire
Barbed and black
A crow stood watch
With feathered tact
A sideways look
An eye of glass
Mud, red, blood
Flesh flailed back
The few that stood
Did notice not
The crow gave wink
A friendly nod
They carried wood
With hooks tied fast
They dragged the dead
From jaws made slack
The clubs swung low
They arced, the night
Was filled with bone
In naked sight
The crow cawed once
He nodded twice
He'd have their souls
When he took flight
Still others came
The weary arms
Those that shame
Could do no harm
Again they dragged
Again they swung
Still the crow
From midnight hung
He cared not
The where or why
What human sin
He watched close by
He had no need
For cloth or thread
But flesh and bone
Blood stained red
To tally souls
To eat and fly
Black as coal
The midnight sky
A photo that was taken in Treblinka I saw as a chid and never forgot.
Poetry Form: Limerick
Sponsor: Joseph May
Date: June 14, 2025
A crow on a wire watched me cry,
He cawed at the clouds in the sky.
“You break, then you mend,
But the hurt doesn’t end—
Just learn how to smile when you lie.”
“Death can never separate us. Each time you feel a gentle breeze, It's my hand caressing your face.” By Mary Lucas
The first bell intoned its dreary dirge.
The feel of emptiness spread all around.
I was not afraid. I felt tall and steady.
Night began to obscure the light of day.
I began my lonely trek around the desolate place.
I met no one nor did I want to. I repeat.
I was not afraid. Some candles were still lit
All around the paths. Not that I had any difficulty
To find my way. I had walked that path too, often.
Suddenly all around a wild wind whispered all around.
Still, I was more concerned about names and ages.
How many die young! I feel tears brimming in my eyes.
Yet no tears fell. The light dimmed casting long shadows.
A lone raven cawed, a warming call. I did not care.
The dirge bell rang again, a mandate and a warning,
I pressed on, undaunted but free.
I entered the mausoleum as was my habit,
Lay myself down in my comfy coffin and slept.
Placed 1
Recently,one winter morning,out of the blue,
I heard the caw of a lone crow -
Once found in flocks across our land,
Now vanished many years ago.
Its caw awakened in me the
Memories buried in the wavering wash of time.
The weather those days was fine,
Water in the ponds and rivers was pure.
Rills full of fish would twist and flow
Through the villages.
The cricket’s song at dawn and dusk,
The farmer's call in the early morning,
As he headed towards the paddy field
With a pair of bulls so charming.
His caw recalled the temple bell’s ring
From the palace shrine in early morning,
A sound that once brough heart’s delight.
Oh,the Uthum’s song on a sunny day,
And Tamna’s call at night,
No longer heard,nor seen the fireflies,
Twinkling far and near at night.
Gone are many local varieties of fish,
Plants,and greens once found in abundance
In our land.
Today, that lone caw in the air
Brought back to me the memories rare,
Yet worried for what we have lost,
Ecological balance now the cost.
eyes closed
we listen
koel sings
nodes glisten
all’s well
but then
jarring notes
mar zen
ripples rise
stifling bliss
do nothing
notice this
who within
so stumbled
bend low
we’re humbled
fickle fate
tests resolve
through struggles
we evolve
poised presence
posits peace
seeing thus
angst decrease
bliss again
we rebound
walking on
holy ground
The Raven king
Called to tea
Arrived without a gift
Blaming it on
the economy
he claimed to be short shrift
The coffers low
he cawed in woe
Explaining away his faux pas
Yet his diadem
Not last years
our hostess plainly saw
Oh well what to do
Is it one lump or two
And you really must try the cake
Despite the manners
So sadly lacking
He was such a stylish rake
An ornament
to any event
You had to allow him that
It was only this and nothing less
That
Kept her from calling the cat
She said some words and blackbirds cawed
As she stirred her cauldron to a goblin's applaud
Her nose was crooked, her skin was green
As her cackles echoed on Halloween
The Halloween night was filled with gloom
As she patrolled the skies on her trusty broom
She was looking for stragglers, those who lagged behind
Then she'd swoop down and catch them, their fate unkind
The first one she brought back began to scream
But this only made the old hag's eyes gleam
She waved her hand to and fro
And turned him into a crow!
Then off again on her broom she flew
As her cauldron bubbled with a fearsome brew
She saw another straggler dawdling by a gate
She swooped down swiftly to seal his fate
All her victims would scream and scream
Wishing and hoping they were in a dream
10-11-2024
Robert Lloyd Sherriff - Australian Poet, Author, Actor, and Model: American Historian.
Robert Sherriff - 'ME' 1961
In the shadows of a childhood lost,
Where crows cawed with voices crossed,
Robert Sheriff bore the weight of pain,
In a family's silence, cruelty reigned.
Father's fists, like a tempest wild,
Mother's eyes turned, averted, mild,
In the darkness, young Robert stood,
A soul consumed by violence's flood.
The crows outside, their watchful eyes,
Echoed the screams, the silent cries,
As society's grip tightened strongly,
Institutional abuse is a ghastly song.
But Robert stood against the tide,
His voice a beacon, no longer to hide,
Injustice rendered, cruelty slain,
His story is a testament, a survivor's gain.
The crows may caw, the shadows loom,
But Robert Sheriff, in his strength, consumes
The darkness, the violence, the unjust night,
With courage and resilience, he stands in the light.
A
Crow cawed
Then a dove
Cooed early while
Still dark from cloudy
Skies on this late winter's
Morn, the only gold was the
Daffodils' blossoms flashing smiles
To the star magnolia's delicate
Star shaped blooms seeking a friend before spring
Darkness loomed over the place,
Damp air hung like a shroud,
Crows cawed in the distance,
If ever you felt gloom, it was here,
You could almost reach out and touch it,
A cold mist cloaked everything,
Not a hint of colour to be seen,
The cobbled streets were deserted,
except for the shadowy fog,
Tendrils of vapours climbed around each house,
Ready to gobble you up,
if you dared to step out,
Humidity clung with vehement fierceness,
Black clouds darkled the evening sky,
Waiting to unload heavy showers,
Brooding nimbus
longing to cry...
The atmosphere was like a living breathing being,
Someone hiding in the moist shadows,
Sighing in stygian despondency,
Waiting to show its anger,
The calm before the storm...
Lightning cracked,
thunder rocked
the stillness,
Big, fat raindrops fell in steady downpour,
This was gonna be
a mighty thunderstorm...
Three plump old biddy birds full of birdseed and whey
Sat on a limb spreading gossip and rumors that day
I heard she did this and he did that said Mrs. McVey.
They all had a story, about things crazy and gray.
One-upping each other on this nonsensical Tuesday.
Surely you have something better to do cawed a blue jay.
They took out their sling shots and forced him away.
I never should have married that fool said Mrs. McVey
The Raven
I sat on the terrace over the kitchen, taking the sun
when a raven came, sat on the railing, eyeing me
It decided I was not a risk, but it cawed to the dog
she uneased, walked down and stayed in the yard.
The sparrows that lived under the roof tiles were
absent, a new master had moved in.
Once it caught a swallow in flight, dropped it
the bird had damaged wing, and my instinct was to
save it, but didn’t want to interfere, the raven
swooped, picked the bird up, and flew to the woods.
I had mice under the roof tiles, but that was ok
till I found a dead one under the bed.
The dust had gathered since I fired the maid
she drank my whisky and got frisky.
The extermination man came and took care
of the problem, but I had the dog to look for
mice in the bed, as the mice were healthy
In my dreams
The raven met a mate that didn’t like the roof
the couple moved to the woods the sparrows
felt free to harass me when I was taken the sun.
giant crows can be thugs, the six-year-old child told me.
they wear masks and can intimidate you out of an elm tree.
I had no knowledge of this at all and begged to hear more.
this child lives in the small yellow ranch house, right next door.
crows came at night and took us all hostage, she said.
they pistol whipped my daddy until his face was bloody red.
I expected TV news crews to pull up at any second of course.
biggest crow came in riding an enormous Arabian horse.
another crow was so shiny, his fur was ebony black.
he stole all our pink toothpaste, pushed them into a sack.
stopped by the kitchen to grab a watch to put in his pack.
he turned and cawed at me loudly when he looked back.
these crows may have been killers, they had shirts that said murder.
they stole our black taser gun we use as a cow herder.
one stuck out his beak and glared when they were turning to flee.
child’s mother said, “This kid watches way too much TV,”
Maybe a serial killer, the crows cawed to each other.
This was agreed upon by the vole and the vole’s mother.
I think he’s just a great horned owl, a good guy, I said.
However, I did not know all the murderous books that he read.
He studied forensics, and he took apart his own pellets.
The books he read pushed diabolical ideas down in his gullets.
He was a cereal killer that simply could not stop.
He devoured all of our Rice Krispies – Snap, Crackle, Pop!
If you ask me how old, I will not lie
each year I walked it with my head held high
living is for the brave and so I walk with strength
climbing the ladder of life regardless of the length
I was blessed to have a family that loves me, so I'm good
no matter what happens in life I know I've been understood;
My heart has always been at the seat of my soul
and loving others is my only goal;
If you ask me how many candles are on my cake
there are so many my breath needs to do an intake
Happy Birthday to me , dear God,
I wish to get it right before the last crow, has cawed.
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