POEMS/ Predators

Predators

The death was quick and clean –
she saw the Cooper’s Hawk
swoop down to seize
one of the ground grazing 
Mourning Doves
who moved together
a constant pair
foraging daily 
beneath her feeder

saw the raptor
lift and rip its prey
feathers floating
down from a branch 
of the tall oak
saw its mate alone
partner in nest building
incubating   feeding   fledging
of their brood gone

saw the survivor
move from tree
to tree calling 
its sad lament
mourning for a mate
it would not find again

just as she wandered
through her empty
house grieving 
for her mate
of over half a century
seized and devoured
by a predator 
that grew for years,
inside him.

©Phyllis Beck Katz

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