The screech owl hoots
Sad lyrics to a song
Only he knows the words to,
While perched on a bent willow
Tree in a time no one can recall
Or know the way to find again.

He is not lost or injured,
Exiled or reclusive, but
Where he knows that he belongs.
He’s hooting out his message
To a wind that rumbles in
From another era never
Spoken of in history books.

What could he be saying-
This sadly hooting owl?
The caterpiller knows and tells
But the butterflies won’t listen
And the mushrooms are all deaf.

The wind hears pleas
From elsewhere and is gone.
The bent willow tree has heard
And understands the message
But it’s roots are deep and
It cannot pull them up to move.
So the owl hoots his song to silence
And the only one who knows about it
Happens to be me.
ljm