A Barred Owl
The warping night air having brought the boom
Of an owl’s voice into her darkened room,
We tell the wakened child that all she heard
Was an odd question from a forest bird,
Asking of us, if rightly listened to,
“Who cooks for you?” and then “Who cooks for you?”
Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear,
Can also thus domesticate a fear,
And send a small child back to sleep at night
Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight
Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw
Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.
by Richard Wilbur
Richard Purdy Wilbur was born on 1 March 1921 in New York City, New York, United States of America. He became a poet and a translator of written works. Richard Purdy Wilbur passed on at 96 years of age on 14 October 2017 in Belmont, Massachusetts, United States of America.
The warping night air having brought the boom
Of an owl’s voice into her darkened room,
We tell the wakened child that all she heard
Was an odd question from a forest bird,
Asking of us, if rightly listened to,
“Who cooks for you?” and then “Who cooks for you?”
Words, which can make our terrors bravely clear,
Can also thus domesticate a fear,
And send a small child back to sleep at night
Not listening for the sound of stealthy flight
Or dreaming of some small thing in a claw
Borne up to some dark branch and eaten raw.
by Richard Wilbur
Richard Purdy Wilbur was born on 1 March 1921 in New York City, New York, United States of America. He became a poet and a translator of written works. Richard Purdy Wilbur passed on at 96 years of age on 14 October 2017 in Belmont, Massachusetts, United States of America.