King Of Crows

King of crows was first presented to me as a story
when I was a child.
I remember being in the yard. I was laying on the dirt playing with dried
silver black white hen-shite. It always dried out quickly in the
summer heat of the 70’s. Strange

stuff that hen-shite. I respect it. It’s the only
shite I do respect. Anyway, I was playing there under the Irish sunlight
enjoying myself. My cousin broke through to
 me with a yell asking

if I wanted to set R.A.T traps for crows on
the iron roof of the
pig box?  Just for fun. A laugh. I was well up for it so we set
about finding a few traps
and some bait which we thought would
con the crows just enough for
them to make a mistake.
Under the silent cool sunlight we aimed

 our gaze on the precisely positioned traps
 and waited motionless.  We waited a whole afternoon till we were called in. My mind could not for one second be removed from the vision of those traps on the pig
 roof. No matter what I did I could feel the intensity
 of the connection between those traps, me, and the crows. Every
chance I got to check on them I did. No crows all
afternoon
right up till we were stuck into the bedroom to

 find a spot in a bed to sleep. I could not sleep
so just rested there listening for a scream from a black
 crow. Nothing came
 through the silent night. Eventually
I got up and
crept out and down then through
the farm door and  
stepping silently I fixed my gaze
on the metal roof. No crow had been
caught. The moonlight
was so bright and almost warm. I loved i
t then as I love it now. I lay down amongst the hen-shite again
and gazed up at the clear stars. As I did so my eyes saw down the lane a

figure moving through the night towards me. This figure
was night blue in colour and much more hunched than a normal man. I tried to pretend that he wasn’t coming for me but instinctualy I had already
agreed to go with him. The king of crows

leaned over me and in that moment
my time on this earth was removed from me. I was consumed by the powerful majesty of his realm which instilled an unending love within and out

with me. I was asked
for nothing. There was no deal.
Since that moment as a small boy
playing in the hen-shite
 I have never set traps for
crows. It would feel like

setting a trap for myself
and my family. If you
meet the king
of crows, or I
should say, if
you want to meet
the king of

crows I will
tell you
 how to
 do it.

Some
day