Here, Bird

The shadow of a crow fell from overhead.

The person had been lying there for some time- any urge to cry for help had long vanished-

They were near death.

As they had laid there, alone, they had replayed their life in their mind.

It had been a good life, but something felt unfulfilled.

Devoid of nutrition, devoid of hydration, devoid of spirit-

the shadow of the crow had been the first sign of life in days.

Minutes from now the human would give up entirely.

The crow landed.

In a cracked voice the person whispered out: “here bird…”

And to their astonishment the crow answered: “Human, are you ready to depart from this world?”

Initially astonished, both at the question and that a bird had asked it, the human fell into acceptance almost immediately. “I can feel the time is near but I am not ready to go.” They answered and continued: “how is it you can speak?”

The crow replied: “I am as I have always been- it is you who are different. As we let go of our notions of how things should be, we understand more. Your species especially has so many ideas about how the world should be that they stopped listening long ago. We creatures; the plants, the animals, the earth, even the sun, the moon, and the stars- we speak. You have just forgotten how to listen. It seems it is only when near death, or in times of great despair, do you hear us. Some children, if allowed to follow their hearts, they hear us, but most grow away from that.

With life just enough to keep one eye open the human looks upon the crow and utters their final sentence: “Will you stay with me?”

And the crow responds: “I landed to be with you.”