Corvid, a Branch

Anything, from far away, looks graceful enough.
A slight dagger in the branches, in the sunset, looks as a curve of Ingres.

Swallows in spring did not please us so.

You, black-winged, eyes of night, a murderous laugh,
the Lilliputians knew what it meant to observe something close.
It is truth, a hard truth, but one we do not wish to know.
Closeness is often a shade, a mask, and observation prevents us from knowing what we must know.

I will stay far away.
I will see you as you wish to be.
Something like you believe you are.
A dart of grace, supposing the thing that it ought to be, that we all must be,
Given enough space, enough time…

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Matthew Hunt is an inveterate traveler, mountaineer, and musician. He has released music as Slim Hunt, Slim Rosa, and The Iris Bell and performs regularly. He lives in Washington DC with his wife and children.