Eye of the Raven

Eye of the Raven • Faith Anderson

“You’re the reason she left”

I call up to the raven

Who has always lived with

Me hovering just out of reach

It descends like a wraith from the sky

And digs its talons deep into a branch

It looms, unmoving

Head cocked to the side

Wide, yellow eye drills into me

Pupil locked onto its target

It knows

Exposes

Everything I bury under my skin

To keep friends from retreating

But no vessel can shroud such secrets

From the feathered fiend

That echoes its deep caws

Throughout the forest

I know its song is true

But cannot yet resign myself to

It and say

“I’m the reason she left”