The Gallows from Poetics by Edward Givens

The Gallows

There was a weasel lived in the sun
with all his family
till a keeper shot him with his gun and hung him up on a tree
where he swings in the wind and rain
in the sun and in the snow
without pleasure, without pain
on the dead oak tree bough

There was a crow who was no sleeper
but a thief and a murderer till a very late hour
and this keeper made him one of the things that were
to hang and flap in rain and wind
in the sun and in the snow
There are no more sins to be sinned
on the dead oak tree bough

There was a magpie too
had a long tongue and a long tail
He could both talk and do
but what did that avail?
He too flaps in the wind and rain
alongside weasel and crow
without pleasure without pain
on the dead oak tree bough

And many other beasts and birds
skin bone and feather
have been taken from their feasts
and hung up there together
to swing and have endless leisure
in the sun and in the snow
without pain
without pleasure
on the dead oak tree bough

• Classical
• Edward Thomas
• ambient
• animals
• crows
• dark
• death
• exotica
• fourth world
• frippertronics
• looping
• nature
• neoclassical
• poetry
• postmodern classical
• spoken word
• Oregon