White Raven

Spotted you at dawn

On the grain silo beam

All white feathers, black eyes

Like you walked out a dream

Snow on your wings

Mud on your claws

You move like a rumor

Through the corn rows and stalls

Folks point and freeze

Say you ain’t real

But I seen what I seen

That’s a fact I can feel

You left no trace

Just a bent tin gate

And a shed full of silence

By the county line wake

Tell me where you came from

Tell me what you know

You glide past the trouble

And you never move slow

Every head turns up

When you cut that sky

Like a ghost in the daylight

With a storm in your eye

White raven, white raven

What you bring tonight?

White raven, white raven

Cutting through the light

White raven, white raven

You don’t need to say

You land, you vanish

And you take my doubts away

Seen you on the fence rail

Seen you on the church roof

Seen you by the river bend

When the moon was gone too

You pecked at the cracked corn

Left a feather in blue

I kept it in my notebook

Like a code meant for you

Old men said omen

Kids said angel

I said you’re the one thing

That don’t fit their label

You stare back calm

Like you know my name

Like you’ve been watching

All my wins and shame

Tell me where you came from

Tell me what you know

You glide past the trouble

And you never move slow

Every head turns up

When you cut that sky

Like a ghost in the daylight

With a storm in your eye

White raven, white raven

What you bring tonight?

White raven, white raven

Cutting through the light

White raven, white raven

You don’t need to say

You land, you vanish

And you take my doubts away

I followed you once

To the far field gate

Past the busted swing set

Past the rusted freight

You looked at the dark

Then you looked at me

Then you burst like a signal

In the bare-black trees

Now when the world gets heavy

And my chest runs tight

I think of your wingspan

Breaking up the night

If you’re a warning

Then warn me true

If you’re a blessing

Then I’ll run with you

White raven, white raven

What you bring tonight?

White raven, white raven

Cutting through the light

White raven, white raven

You don’t need to say

You land, you vanish

And you take my doubts away