I have tried to exorcise you, from my heart
For I am the raven enamoured by the Coca Cola cap
hidden in the grass amongst the words I pen
satisfied with the fit and clicking like lock gears.

I'll beat my ebony wings at a shard of luminescent glass
hoarding the treasure close to see them twinkle
at the cock of my head, a blink of beady eyes.

When I sit high in my nest, there is no room
between the speckled rock and coral shell
for the brother I raised eager to extend a hand.
While I did not shed a feather for the friend
who found God smiling at me, as I am
I did break one for the golden chain in the gutter
half obscured by wet leaves and plastic.

So when you see me overhead curse me, call me foolish—
prideful of riches pilfered,
proud of the snapped twig nest and ignorant,
candidly bored of the tree I sit perched,
the seeds it leaves me and the view of a rising, flaxen sun.


© Fae Hilscher