to a raven i have loved

raven, flying thoughtful circles
raven, with his long, straight bill
raven, who stole the light and cracked the clam to bring forth our world
raven, clever trickster:

floating above my gaze across the valley,
deep traveler's call, vibrato undertones announcing his game
each time another loop is complete.

and then a wonderful airborn dance:
three slow beats of his wings, brief glide,
then in one motion wings quickly tucked in and tilting to bring his shoulders
perpendicular to the many trunks below - eyes on both of his worlds at once,
a graceful shallow dive, only a moment long, then untucked a stacato laugh,
three beats of his wings, a moment's glide,
and sidelong dives of only a few feet's decent again and again,
around and around, in a lazy, agile spiral descent.

he is not greedy with his magic.