by Terrence Aym

Created on: November 26, 2009

Chittering, chattering, chirping attacks,
The birds swoop down again on the attack.
They came in pairs they came in flocks.
They came from the marshes; they came from the rocks.

Beaks sharp and clacking, piercing shrieks,
Swooping and soaring from distant peaks,
Falcons and eagles and robins and wrens,
The feathered terrors of Armageddon.

Men straining on rooftops sweating and hoarse,

Womenfolk wailing and crying with remorse,
The horror, the wonder, the thunderous wings,
That darkened the sky with wild, darting things.

The war is ongoing against the raptors.
Fist against talon, in caves and on rafters.
The battle cry honking of geese on the prowl,
The slapping and flapping of hideous fowl!

Blood and feathers; blood and flesh,
Airborne confusion, enemies mesh,
Into a melee of terrible fright,
The birds regroup to take up the fight.

A woodpecker drills into a skull,
No surcease from battle, nary a lull.
The winged ones rose up against all Men,
No one knows why, no one knows when.

I saw these horrors within a vision,
When like a bird I was imprisoned,
Inside the cage of my rusting mind,
A whirlwind spiraling out of time.

The birds are quiet now the battle over,
The little ones peck upon fields of clover,
All hail! Mankind shall rise again someday!
But till then the bird kingdom shall rule the day.

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