First, I saw a few, then more than a few
Multitudes of black crows
Lining the tops of the buildings
They looked like extras from a Hitchcock film
Others perched on the sculpted wrought-iron things
Guarding the approach to Hawthorne Bridge
They looked like gargoyles on Notre Dame
I think they knew this, for they crouched and bobbed
Hunching and squatting while exclaiming
Caw!, Caw!, in proper gargoyle fashion
The trees had no leaves, but they had crows!
They hung like possums
If possums hang
They might
They should!
All in all
The crows looked a bit absurd
But in the sky
Something different
Flocks of crows
Weaving
Like smoke
Or perhaps
Lines of a poem
Scrolling across a yellow sky
Shot with black rain
Cold as wind born of bitter snow
Darkening to a grey of pain
And I knew
These not-so-absurd crows
Had a message for me
And you
A message that we
Can’t
Quite
Read
But we must
