Crowland.

Out of the quickening twilight the caw, caw of crows
like some ancient battle cry cuts the orange and lemon tinted air.
They emerge at first like distant, murky shadows in a deep pool
hinting at malevolence, provoking the night to show itself;
the ghosts of murdered men seeking vengeance.
Then like fragments of shattered jet they cut the sky
with mortal wounds, spilling towards the silhouetted trees,
dancing and whirling in some ancient rite, singing the dark
oath songs of Valhalla, the Otherworld and Bran the Blessed.

These are Odin's birds, Huginn and Muninn -
his eyes and ears: the wise advisor and the ebony spirit of wisdom.
They pour out of the dying day as if through some portal in the clouds,
filling my senses with strange dreams and battle hymns,
anointing my soul with superstitious foreboding:

They are finders of sacred fire, divine messagers
penetrating deep into our world, into our subconscious,
omens of death, birth, soothsayer, trickster and hero:

They coil like sacrificial thick smoke, a swirling whirlpool
of escaped shadow coursing through the diminishing light
as if their only goal is to banish and extinguish the sun
from our lives.
The slow nasal, earthy call of the stately rooks blends
with the loud jarring  'kyaar' of the jackdaws into a writhing
cacophony of crow music as antique and mysterious as the landscape.
Slowly they follow the ritual of gathering. They muster together
in the stubble field in one great mass, an oil slick,
squeezing out the last of the struggling illumination.

Then suddenly there is a hush. My breathing is rapid.
Anticipation surges like a wave rushing in from the grey sea.
Then the crow horde rises as one entity,
one huge black monster heaving into the petrified
diffuse sky, at once a black flower opening to the night,
then a huge black egg full of stars.
But soon the spectacle is over and the tribal horde
descends into the stoic trees etched against the horizon
like black, boney fingers, and swiftly clutter their spidery branches
with their presence, merging into the gloom to enbrace the night.