Great Horned Owl hooting
at 5:15 AM
July 27, 2020

not the kind of sound anyone wants to hear any time
let alone on a Monday morning

owls know things that we don’t see coming

heralds of death
like foreshadowing in books
where doom looms a few pages ahead

anxiety hangs heavy in the air
like an unlifted veil of fog
a warning to pay attention
and be on the alert

Native Americans believed it –
And Isaiah brought one in, too
humans of Babylon face destruction