Barred Owl

Our neighborhood Barred Owl stopped by my yard this evening, he was just checking to see what tonight's special was. Maybe he would prefer a regular a menu item like a Red Squirrel kabob?

                              The warping night air having brought the boom
                              of an owls voice into her darkened room
                              We tell the wakened child that all she heard
                              was an odd question from a forest bird,
                              Asking us, if rightly listened to,
                             "Who cooks for you?" and the "Who cooks for you?"

                              Words which can make our terrors bravely clear,
                               can also thus domesticate a fear,
                               and send a small child back to sleep at night.
                               Not listening for the sound of a stealthy flight.
                               or dreaming of some small thing in a claw
                               Borne up to some dark branch and eatin raw.
                                      The Barred Owl ~ Richard Wilbur