Work Text:
I saw an owl in its knowing
On a branch that stopped growing
Some past century or two
Her eyes were wide and devoid
Of all deceit and enjoyed
No right to benevolent cruelty
Like a saint in her vigil
I pondered the dark of her sigil
Inscribed on my pathless map
She faltered in her disposition
Spied a fault in my composition
And lamented her solemn oath
"I can't draw paths where there is
No guarantee you could bear his
Harshest tests and their lack of rhyme
Your soul, it craves reason,
The charted roads and the seasons
That change so predictably"
And though she meant it kindly
I withered and stumbled blindly
Back, where it's impossible to go
"Am I cursed to always linger
Where I can graze with my finger
But never touch with my whole hand?"
She denied me further counsel
Flew to me, pierced my temple
And the sting was one I knew
I stood there, unmoving
My blood slowly reproving
The belief I wanted it unspilled
But it was so sweetly commonplace
Being struck so as to displace
Notions of trust I should've outgrown
"Until you learn to reject
The tarnishing of your subject
You may not invoke your 'I'
From your brightness, I have borrowed
And though it has filled me with sorrow
My dark is violet now
Go and learn to regain
Your lyric and your refrain
Return to me my eternal gloom"
And in her loneliness, I did glimpse
A timeless friend I did miss
Long before I ever met the owl
So on the singed leaves and soot, I sat
And stayed and honestly said that
I'd trade it all to be truly known
"For so miserable a company
You neglect your own antimony
Are you a coward or a fool?"
"I'm tired," I confessed
"All I want is to rest --
Let me lie here with you"
"I'll not be here upon your waking
So leave before this forsaking --
Leave, so you may be bright"
I dragged myself to my feet
And couldn't deny the defeat
Of being denied another respite
But of the owl, I think fondly
She, I think, has forgotten me
There is some kindness in that