The Owls Wish

The great barn owls' wings stretched across a starry night.

His feathers soft, speckled with black, browns and white

His body was well made for precise whispered flight.

With eyes observing intense and so bright,

They shone like deep pools, reflecting moonlight.

He would wander and wonder for an end to his plight…

“What is my purpose?” He said to himself?

“All this wandering yet nothing I’ve felt.

All alone am I, banished to the dark

With only my prey, my company embark”

Yet year after year the great owl did fly

Across the lands of a midnight sky

Searching and watching for something to do

A reason for greatness, a reason to coo

One eve he heard laughter of many a man

He stopped his flight and on branch he did land

With tilted head and eyes a glow

He listened intently to the noises below

The clinking of glasses and great joyous sounds

Dancing and merriment as wine poured around

As he watched the excitement his desire grew great

“To belong to such group must be my fate”

But human form was what this owl needed

As he pondered this fact, he felt rather defeated

Night after night the owl returned

He listened and laughed as he mimicked and learned

Soon he forgot his wings and his prey

For his very nature was lost, forgotten and splayed

He forgot the great valleys and mountains he soared

He forgot the night sky with its beauty it bore

He forgot the way the heavens did sing

As he pushed through the wind, not a bird but a king

He forgot the silence of snowy night fields

Or the beauty in summer as crops they did yield

The owl did forget to what he was born

He looked at his wings with resentment and scorn

“I have but one wish” , the owl said with deep longing

“To take human form, to feel this belonging”

If only I could join this great human race

Oh how I would dance with a smile on my face

If I didn’t have these wings I could stand up so tall

I would be so, so grand and entertaining to all

No longer alone with no one to share

My thoughts, my happiness and even despair

No more quiet nights with nowhere to be

I would be whole, fancy and free

As he slept through the day a spark of light did land

And in place of his wing tip now a whole hand

His claws took form into human legs and feet

His feathers he shed, the transformation complete

With a crash he fell from his branch up on high

To the astonishment of all that were drinking nearby

“What have we here?” a plump man did snicker

A naked man surely drunk as a pisser”

The great owl did smile and let out a chuckle

For he knew he was human as his new legs did buckle

Fear, excitement and confusion he did feel

For all of a sudden his dreams now real

Night after night he would drink until dawn

The worlds libations never to strong

Many a friend he met and he greeted

Conversations fantastic to all who were seated

Gathered around to the stories he’d tell

Sharp wit and laughter rang like a bell

Yet all this, his wish, though it was granted

A longing appeared in his heart so slanted

Slowly he remembered that a great owl was he

How he could soar in silence and just simply be

He started to withdraw from company near

He sat alone almost in tear

I miss the great sky and the wind through my wings

I miss the silence and a million small things

I love this life but I do not belong

I had wished a wish but gotten it wrong