O raucous magpie, cease thy noise!
Could it delight, which so annoys?
Idle gossip, so is told,
Undulates around your scold—
Penetrating, sibylline,
The gross, incessant, rasping whine—
Hot-breath torment on the wind
That dares to scorch, undisciplined!
A chilling burst of frenzied howl,
Squeezed from non-existent jowl,
Haunts the wild-rose day of June
And fades on petal's pastel tune,
Then screams with new audacity—
Combustible soliloquy—
Spreading wings upon the wall,
To listen for an echoed call!
Strident pecking then impounds
The storm-soaked baited feeding grounds—
Questing now the Holy Grail,
Silently, with shielded tail.
O innocence of blue-green spin!
Black and white—the harsh chagrin!
For hidden deep in flowerbed
Lay her baby, warm yet dead.
– Jennifer van Westrum