In many cultural traditions, an encounter with an owl at night is an ominous sign.
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In many cultural traditions, an encounter with an owl at night is an ominous sign. But here, in a poem by recent Shelley Memorial Award winner Arthur Sze, (first published in 1982), there is a wonderful transformation from the purple of dusk to the green of dawn that captures a moment of pure optimism in this strange and decidedly magical nocturnal encounter between the poet and an owl.
Owl
The path was purple in the dusk.
I saw an owl, perched,
on a branch.
And when the owl stirred, a fine dust
fell from its wings. I was
silent then. And felt
the owl quaver. And at dawn, waking,
the path was green in the
May light.