Image by Mr.Thomas via Flickr

Not Guilty

Two large crows caw

in a dark brown koa cage

their shiny

black feathers flexed in anticipation.

The honorable raven presides speaking

in their native tongue. He is flanked

by two rooks, the first randomly calls

the lucky hens and roosters

their names plucked from a hexagonal cube, the other

leads us to the box where we are to be judged

as a good fit

or later dismissed.

I am the first,

my seat is pointed out,

my feathers only slightly ruffled

I try not to squawk or show any signs

of distress as my foot catches on the carpet

as I push through the swinging doors

proceeding carefully and cautiously

up into the box

an omen of my continuing journey.

We are to judge the blond sheep

next to the plumper crow

he has been accused of

ferocious bleating and spitting,

however we are reminded that he is innocent

until proven guilty.

We are instructed by the raven

as to the laws of the wilderness

and will have to listen

to testimony from the witnesses

and watch for

certain markers of doubt as there

were no visible signs to be discerned

on the goat–she is called to the stand

and hunches like an old woman.

Her language is guarded, she preens for us

and disappears back from where she came.

The blond sheep is next- he bleats on about his

innocent baby, who was forced to witness

the alleged bleating and remarks of his tender love

citing just cause for any misconceived wrong doing.

We wonder why are we here- our taxpayer dollars

contributing to keep the wheels of justice grinding

are as blind as a thousand bats in a dark cave.

It takes ten minutes to decide the outcome

we are thanked and asked to come downstairs

where they will answer any questions we might have

we respectfully decline and leave

walking out into the warm sun far away

from that koa cage back into our busy lives

Back into the fog from which we came.