Photo by Niklas Veenhuis on Unsplash

Crow and companion
dropped suddenly into the garden
one cold clear morning.
Crow’s friend quickly settled
on a maple branch and was still.
Crow strode with his usual certainty
to the patch beneath bird feeders
where the great block of suet had lain.
Jay and Nuthatch, Woodpeckers too,
Dear and Squirrel took their share.
Now only a greasy patch of grass remains.
I imagine Crow promising his silent friend
a feast of good fat laced with seeds abundant.
However he realized the block, never doubted.

Now he lowered his head then raised it,
lifted one claw, then the other.
He circled the square of greasy ground
cocked his head, looked not at the maple branch.
He once more searched the patch with his eye
and his bill.
I guessed his degradement as he paused
before raising his slow wing
over the garden and out of site.

Did the accompanying crow feel agrievement?
confusion? just the way things go?
Anyway, he or she sat for awhile, then flew,
but not in the same direction!