an owl's soul.

There was a tree upon a hill,

Whose brittle limbs were bare.

That shivered in the winter chill,

And slept in autumn air.

This barren tree, she had a dream,

That one day she would fly,

She would escape this friendless theme

And taste the summer sky.

All the sparrows she would follow;

Would sing their heartfelt song.

To the raven and the swallow

With them she would belong.

But every day the tree would wake,

For it was not to be.

And then her weary heart would break,

The lost and lonely tree.

But one grey day – there came a storm,

That shook the world around.

It tossed and turned her twisting form,

But to the earth was bound.

When suddenly – a light came down,

A loud and angry crack.

Then on her lit a fiery crown

That broke her wooden back.

And then that tree – she was consumed

De’voured by hungry flame

And to the dust the tree was doomed,

The earth she then became.

But then a breeze came flutt’ring by,

That lifted up her soul,

And brought the tree into the sky –

Her freedom made her whole.

And now she rides where’ere she please

And through the clouds she’ll soar;

and with the sparrows, and the bees,

the tree’s lonesome no more.

~C