Alarm
By David McCord
“There’s a cat out there.”
“Cat? How do you know?”
“I hear the robins saying so.”
“There’s a hawk somewhere.”
“Don’t see a hawk.”
“The chickens do. Hear the hens’ hawk squawk?
The young chicks heard it. They run for cover.
A hawk need only fly, not hover.
See how one hen has cocked an eye?
That’s not a crow just flying by.
Hens know his flight. Might be an owl;
Except the short eared one: he’s rare.
If you are like me, you don’t much care
For jays, but though the jays is all
For robbing birds nests, his loud call
At any sign of danger wakes
The world around him: cats black snakes,
Shikes, hawks, dogs, weasels, squirrels, crows, rats!
But robins specialize on cats.”
One at a Time by David McCord — Collected Poems for the Young
