The Mad Hermit and The Owl.

The quotation in italics at the top of the poem is not exact, it replicates my first conscious response to the entry in the Intimate Journals of Charles Baudelaire dated 23rd January 1862, an entry that terrified me when I first came across it in the early 1970`s. I have included it here to help elucidate the poem. Goya and Yeats have also had some influence on the imagery.

The Mad Hermit and the Owl. 

"The wind of the wing of madness 
Last night passed over me." 

                         1

The Owl shadows the dark wood.
The Owl is the essence of night.
A silent hunter haunting the northern wilderness.
A desolate shadow descending through the pines.

                          2

I cannot sleep when his shrill cries pierce the moonlit forest.
I cannot sleep when his shadow falls across my window.

I cannot walk free, out of the moonlit forest.
I cannot escape the malignity of that shadow.

My darkened window reflects a sudden movement.
I panic and shake when he passes.

His wing beats echoing through the winter stillness
Awake dark fears in the depths of my mind.

                          3

In folklore the Owl is a bird of evil omen,
A lord of the underworld come to gather souls,
A portent of evil.
When I hear his shrill cries piercing the snow hushed forest
Those ancient legends flower like wounds in my brain.


Trevor John Karsavin Potter. 
May 23rd. 1974.-December 9th. 2003.-September 8th. 2012.