Crows

By Hussain Kachwala

A crow flew overhead on the hill we used to go to 

They're misunderstood y'know, really smart creatures, doing what they know  best, condemned by humanity to idiomatic greed and evil 

They remind me of you. Albeit you seemed more a beast than them in my  memories, no matter how much you tried to convince me otherwise, I knew the  cage that you were kept in, and the blood that rushed to your eyes when the  euphoric thought of freedom was felt by your mind. 

I'm trying, I know the walls seem like home, in all their drudgery and stains, and  the blood of their last victim left on the windowsill as an attempt to escape was  made. I am trying to bring you home, your real home, with us, all of us. 

The crow seems friendly, I feed it some of the food I brought. Why? Well you  weren't gonna eat were you? 

My mother used to tell me a story about them when I was still a babbling young  boy. She told me that a soul would go through a thousand lives before finally  becoming a human being, and that is why our life is a gift, and if taken away  early, the cycle resets. 

How do you feel? Do you think it's true? And how many cycles have we been  through to sit here on this hill, do you think we sat here before? 

Perhaps, who knows. The crow has made it less lonely. 

Is it you? Have you found me again my feathered friend? Why did you leave  me? Is God real? What did He tell you?

Funny how we associate crows with evil, when their plumage is actually  reflective, a mirror showing us our own evil, the evil that took you away from  me. 

Come, let's go home, I promise you, no cage this time, your wings will be able  to take you wherever they want, and if something comes around threatening to  clip your wings, I will do battle with them until my blood paints the heavens. 

The rain is coming, just as it came the day we embarked on our first big  adventure, come now, before we get sick like last time. And if this is God telling  me that it indeed is you, thank you. 

As I leave this rock I assure you, as I carried your body here today, I shall carry  you to safety, I promise. 

Goodbye my old friend, I hope we meet again.

By Hussain Kachwala