owl inspiration

During the winter if you go outside my house late at night or early in the morning you can hear an owl hooting. I don't know if it's the same owl but I've been hearing it for years. Sometimes when I can't sleep I can hear him. This poem came to me after a sleepless night listening to that owl:


Insomnia

On winter nights
I lie awake while the
Moon shines through the window.
The hoot owl beckons me
To join him.
I consider it,
Then pull the covers snug
Against the cold.

In spring I'm tempted
To join the Whippoorwill
In the meadow on his
All night vigil.
Then I hear the coyotes'
Howl echo from the hollow
Where the creek runs cold,
And reconsider.

I listen to the
Metallic whine of the cicadas
On hot summer nights
And watch as the night breeze
Billows the curtains back and forth
Above my head while
The leak stains on the ceiling
Metamorphose into shapes and animations.

In autumn, close to
Halloweeen, the wind blows
Brittle leaves upon my window;
A premonition of the
Winter chill.
And as the house creaks
Against the wind's coercion
I wonder if sleep will ever come again.
C. 9-26-00