Black Hills Audubon Society

~The Shrike~

A bushtit bleeds from a rusted barb
of the fence that holds a harvest-tired
and frozen field that last summer's frenzy
of locusts fled as autumn neared.

Black-capped chickadee
and dark-eyed rodent,
you too, should beware
of the bandit-masked
and hook-beaked butcher bird.

The only way it will care to save you
is for a meal to be had at its leisure.

by Dan Tompsett

Dan Tompsett is a poet from Seattle, Washington.

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