That storm is still on my mind, looking at the images from it, trying to capture the fractured brilliance of the lightning.
Today started dark and rainy...dreary.
K. goes for a walk most mornings. Lately he's been having encounters with crows. Along one block they yell and swoop at him, close enough to feel the wind off their wings. He wrote the crow guy from the newspaper. A reply came with possible reasons, such as a nearby nest. He said that they won't attack if you look at them.
This morning there were three crows cawing in a repeated cacophony outside our house. Over and over. Something was wrong. K. left for his walk with his hood on. He returned a minute later. There was a dying crow in the parking strip. I called animal control to see what to do. She thought it was probably a fledgling with parents guarding it, and it would be fine. "I don't think it's fine." Fledglings can look pretty bad, she said. I sent a photo. She called back saying it wasn't fine at all, and could we get it into a box and bring it in?
When I went back out to get it, it was face first in the grass, dead. The other crows were silent (I'm hoping they were friends, not foes). A few minutes later, returning with a shovel to carry it to the woods behind our house, it was on its back, face up in the rain. (I wonder what happened?) I put it in the woods and thanked it for its spirit.
A search for "What does a dead crow mean?" led to this, "While many believe that seeing a crow is a harbinger of death, others say the presence of a dead crow means the end of bad things and the beginning of all things new and good. ... There are also websites claiming crows symbolize change, intelligence, prophecy or strength."
Oh, I hope so.
"Struck & Still Standing in Starlight"
