Black crow

A huge black crow
         hangs upside down
from the branches of a tree
         from which it is picking
a berry of some sort
         and as I pass by 
the bird drops momentarily
         into freefall
before flapping
         its wide wings
and making off
         into the distance
There are plenty of other trees
         in the vicinity where the pickings
are just as rich and I don’t feel
         in the least guilty
for having disturbed it
         during its supper

Crows sow nothing
         cultivate nothing
have nothing to do all day
         but to gorge themselves
on whatever they can find
         : they live on the prodigious
fat of the land
         Good luck to them

John Lyons