Harbinger
by Daniel
G.
Snethen
An unkindness of ravens perched
like blackened toads upon the denude
outstretched branches of several
old-growth cottonwood trees.
Each with a closed eye,
the other open, all knowing
and emerald.
Openly reflecting the sojourn
of my past, closed to the revelation
of my pending future.
And I knew the entirety
of the world’s wisdom
was watching, not judging,
but watching what it was
I was about to do
and I wondered:
“did it already know?”
Like a swarming hoard
of charcoal locusts taking flight,
its shadow obliterated the sun
and all that was hopeful within me.
Daniel G.
Snethen is an educator, naturalist, moviemaker, poet, and short story
writer from South Dakota. He teaches on the Pine Ridge Reservation at Little Wound
High School in the heart of Indian Country.
