NaPM April 02 2016

[Todd]

Twa Corbies

Two crows diverged
whose flights were tracked
in a yellow wood
by crow the third
who watched the horse
that lay quite still.

The first two crows
brought back their brothers
but that third crow
had got the eyes
first one then two
from the head of the horse
that lay so still.

I'll sing you how
the gang of crows
descend on the horse
in ones and twos
and make such a noise
they scare off the flies
who'd come to feast
on the horse so still.

And I recall
as the leaves fall down
on this road in the wood
under branches bare
it's one for sorrow
two for mirth
then nine for hell
as I rode the earth
on a horse whose bones lay still.

I can only agree with Milo stating the obvious. The poem is beautifully written with a delicious eerie quality to it.