THE FIRE OWL

Phil Roberts 1957 (Melbourne)



Australian folk law
Talks of a bird that lives in fire,
Yet never burns.

Warning of danger
Resembling an owl,
It knows death is drawing near.

Before a murder's done
The Fire Owl appears hopping
From foot to foot.

Along a burning log
The Fire Owl dances,
Warning of coming crimes.

Never hooting
It hops silently in fire,
Yet its meaning is known.

Ignoring the Fire Owl
Only leads to disaster,
Evil being done.

In the evening
The Fire Owl appears,
Then evil stalks the village.

Murders or rapes
Or other brutal crimes occur.
All are preordained.

So ignore the Fire Owl
At your own peril,
His warning is the truth

THE END
© Copyright 2021 Philip Roberts
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

About this poem

Australian folk law Talks of a bird that lives in fire, Yet never burns.

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Written on June 01, 2021

Submitted by PHIL_ROBERTS on June 03, 2021

Modified on April 25, 2023

36 sec read
7

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAX ABX CDX XXX DAX BAC DXX XAX BXX XXX
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 657
Words 121
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3

Phil Roberts

I turn 65 on the 31st of January 2022. I love cats, rock music, and horror fiction and poetry more…

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