Autumn

In the woods I found
the carcass of a crow,
almost hidden
by leaves and glacial rubble,
its wings spread out on the ground
like an insignia.
How long had it been there?
Long enough,
so breathing through my mouth,
I knelt and plucked
some feathers from a wing
to tie a small
black caddis fly
that hatches in the spring.
Oh what a lesson!
crow's wing,
caddis fly, a trout
going up my bloodstream.
I plucked those feathers,
hardly daring to breathe.


Published in Writers Forum, Fall 1985