Ode to the Burrowing Owl

From Daniel Riddle

Beneath the sun-baked prairie's sigh,where grasses whisper and shadows lie,the Burrowing Owl keeps gentle reigna monarch small, of wind and plain.

By dawn's first blush, with golden eye,it watches day in quiet surprise.Feathers dappled like earthen stone,a creature humble, yet regal alone.

It nests not high in cedar's crest,but deep within the earth's cool breasta borrowed home, a tunnel's keep,where chicks in downy wonder sleep.

At dusk it dances on silent wing,a ghost of twilight wandering.Crickets sing, and mice take flight,as hunger wakes beneath the night.

Burrowing Owl from Cape Coral, Florida