Taxonomy
That was not my own death
swooping down the mountain
but a big bird maybe a condor
dropping through the wraiths of mist as frictionless as a shadow
Maybe it was a great horned owl
do they do that? Or is it only over fields
as silent only in winter white as a new soul
off a limb: pounce
not the high altitude antics of a raptor or a ghost
maybe a falcon
except they don’t get so big do they
and not a ghost because ghosts are not exactly the same
as spirits
or souls
they are to spirits and souls the way a condor
is to a kestrel or a marsh hawk
and an owl well that is more like a persona
or the living aura of a person that lives on
in a house in a woods
not white in winter but probably blue
as the shadows in the snow
where the cold mouse believes
If I just act dead