I always had the idea that I saw one
on a weekday winter evening
out in the car with my parents .
I heard it’s salutary screech through closed windows .
I noticed it’s flat round head
and it’s white wings beating wildly .
I marked it off in my bird book
kept the memory locked away
to be re- awakened when i was older
and had greater knowledge of barn owls
but did I really see it ?
or was it a childhood flight of fancy ,
perhaps a reaction to a photograph
I had once seen in a illustrated album ,
merely a trick of memory .
Special sightings are like longed for feelings
sometimes craved so much that they appear
in some intangible , shadowy way .
Such an event can lead to induction ,
the connection of our inner world
to the collective flow of unconscious thought .
Would a camera – click then have preserved
that white birds image forever ?
to seek is to grieve
to long for a quick flash
ghost – hunting in the hope
of finding answers to questions set
by someone wiser than any owl .
© 2011, Allan. All rights reserved.
