A Ritual


by Pavel Chichikov

The nest is down

The red winged blackbirds mourn

A small white chip of shell

Not steel wire

Winding on a peg of steel –

A sweet chirping funeral

Saurian-necked geese

Honk oboes stuffed with grass –

A killdeer peeps and flutters

All this from above

Must seem like us

No more no less an obsequy

And yet much less

Although a solemn thing

It is to bury blackbirds in the grass

Visit Pavel's website at Grey Owl Press.

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