The Great Horned Owl

"The Great Horned Owl"

This morn, I heard a great horned owl,
A fierce and nocturnal fowl,
Calling “Hoo hoo-hoo hoo, hooooo, hooooo!”
I mused if he was on the prowl.

Were I a rabbit, mouse, or shrew,
I wonder what things I would do
On hearing that an owl were near?
An owl, I’d probably eschew!

Would I hide, heart pounding with fear,
And stay there till the coast was clear?
Or would I venture, strong and bold,
Out in the owl’s own biosphere?

To live in fear and thus grow old
With much in life so uncontrolled?
Or risk it all by being bold?
These things I pondered in the cold.

Art Ritter
January 4, 2011