Winner of the 2009 New Hampshire High School Poetry Contest
The Saw-Whet
by Abby Franklin
we came in the barn
with the bitter December
snow grinding
in our boots
and found it there
lying perfectly
eyes closed
like it had
fallen asleep
then fallen
we waited
for the rise and fall
like a baby sleeping
but all was frozen
like the world outside
a wind
snaking through
the open door
parted its flawless feathers
brown and dun
we reached
cautiously
expecting a whirl
of wings
but all was still
like the world outside
as we carried
the fragile body
from its wooden coffin
to where the stars
waited breathlessly
like the owl in my hands
I wondered what
the sleeper’s last dream
had been
hoping it was softer
more like feathers
than the stabbing
cold of the ruthless winter night
