eyes wide shut

The life expectancy of a homeless person is 50 years
    by Gary Lindorff
   
A crow will never peck out the eyes of another crow.
Perhaps that is why they live longer than men.
(Paraphrase from a poem by Shukrulla.)

I am a crow.
Shukrulla is right,
I would never peck out the eyes of another.
We fight each other and sometimes we are rough
But mostly we stick to language.
“Hey, Garbage Wing, can’t you share?
You be the lookout for a change, I’ll work the field!”

Like that.

But we watch some of you combing the dumps
To feed your families
And we watch some of you living high above each other
In gleaming towers with blue water on every floor
That you rarely go in and never drink
But lounge beside in the sun
Covering your eyes with dark scales,
Blaring annoying sounds that seem to make you happy.

Like that.

Caw!
Caw!
Caw!

What am I saying?
I am saying,
We know you
Better than you know yourselves.
We have watched you very closely
For a very long time!

You should watch us
And learn something.
I will never peck out the eye of my kin!
And that includes every crow everywhere.
We are one people, one nation.

Caw!
Caw!
Caw!

What am I saying now?
You haven’t learned very much
With your big heads.
No, you haven’t learned a thing.

I am saying:
You should take turns
Being the lookout and working the field
And take care of each other.
Listen to each other,
And stop pecking out each other’s eyes!