Reflections of a Poet - Through a Crow's Eye

On a cold January morning, one crow suspiciously eyes another as it flies from its nest in a dead tree.

While processing this image, I was taken to a more mystical place where my imagination took flight. Taken 35 miles north of Roswell, New Mexico, I might have been inspired by extraterrestrials who may have explored (or crashed) in the area sometime before.

Reflections of a Poet

A Meditation on a Photograph entitled “Through a Crow’s Eye”
By David Douglas
(For David)

A Meditation on a Photograph entitled
“Through a Crow’s Eye” by David Douglas
(For David)

A single crow flaps his wings
as he lifts off of the large branch
on a large oak tree.
Then, after gaining his bearings,
he sets his sails for
the eastern horizon,
where the first light of day
is gathering.

Let me, for a season,
be transformed into a crow.
Let me fly higher than crows should go.

And let me learn things
I cannot learn here on the ground –
the folly of human efforts
to divide, limit, and control
with boundaries and walls.
From the heights one can tell
that the world is whole and one.

The crow, still in flight,
soon will join with the
murder* of crows who await him.

Until then, he will be content
with the blue sky above and below him
and splashes of morning light
on his wings –

* “murder” – a “murder” of crows is a collective term that refers to a gathering of crows

"Reflections of a Poet"