(poem) Corvus
(This poem is part of the Night Sky anthology - a project where I write poems titled after the 88 IAU constellations. This poem was written sometime in 2021.)
The evening sky dotted with black feathers,
Like burnt coals spitting soot.
I grabbed them from the air,
Pressed them to make ink,
Clamped the calamus in my teeth,
and tried my best to think.
The sky shed its color to a dark grey,
I heard a tapping on my window but it wasn't rain.
A jet black beak jutting at the edges,
And a pair of eyes came into view,
They carried something soft but unrelenting in them,
Like tar condensed into morning dew.
Its call sent shivers through my bones,
And shattered all the windows in town.
I felt it was calling me to the underworld,
To lead me below and be my guide,
But I saw that it cared little about staying,
Much less by my side.
It looked up into the distance,
Like it was looking through the clouds, past the sky.
One could see in its eyes an eternal longing,
Eyes that cracked, all parched with pain,
Like a snake striking came lightning,
And it began to rain.
(The constellation Corvus is a crow.)