The Great Gray Owl and Eye

Down from dark mountains
Out of bear scarred pine
And off the wolf trail
Of ivory eye socket
For the first moment in
Several lifetimes
Surrounded by
The sudden anarchy
Of children
The reeking belch
Of motorcycle
The moving mouths
Pressed against glass
From inside
Plastic stomachs
Of their noxious devourer
The sight
Of cowards strapping
Firearms to hips
And it is all too much

Just hours ago
A few miles back
Or maybe
A reincarnated dream
From bygone epochs
I shared the violet dawn
In a forest rimmed meadow
On the silent shores
Of a steaming pond
With a hooded
A feathered druid
Who explained the history
Of those woods
Their place
Our shadows and
Pounding hearts

A silent assassin
A calm witness
A teacher who insists
I should know better
Than to hear
This hollow noise