From a foot away she regarded me
Cocking her head side to side
Beady black eyeball facing me at all times
Shifting her weight from leg to leg
Closer I came and still she remained
Whether I moved forward or back the crow did not fly
I put down my groceries on the sidewalk
Covered in the shadows of old oak trees
To talk with this befuddling bird
One night I dreamed my mother had passed
I was alone and cold
With her had gone all the warmth of the world
Primal remembrance of the sauna in the womb
Perhaps this is why women carry children
To the welcoming light of the earth
The rounded swell at the end of the curve
Where the stem meets the branch
Forever until the tree blooms in color
A season and direction for a leaf
Compelling forces of the fall
Gravity and love
They say space and time explode outward from a point
As territory grows the clock hand circles
Creating is said to take time
This center point lacking both size and time
Is this where the fall ends and begins
Where I and the crow wait?
© 2008 Audri Phillips
