David Forrest

MY PORTFOLIO, ENGLISH PROSE: ~ A Murder Of Crows ~ I grew up on a very large farm (almost 900 acres) with access to even more acreage from other surrounding farms in the area. Over time I learned to live with, respect, and like crows. They're very clever, very subtle birds whose ire no thinking person should ever deliberately attempt to arouse. The fact is that crows can fool you—They really can! While not being especially obvious they are highly intelligent, have a very welldeveloped, ‘sense of family’; and, among their own kind, they will often show a strong social conscience. One of the saddest things I’ve ever watched was a small flock of crows gathered around a fallen bird that had just been struck by a car. The flock stayed with that stricken creature and quite vocally, ‘talked’ to it in gentle, almost purring, voices while it fluttered around on its back and slowly died! Page 1 ! Quite frankly, this event left me feeling quite startled and, maybe even, a little shocked! You see, I’ve lived a long life; and, during this time, I’ve known more than a few people who would not have been anywhere near as considerate of a fallen comrade as those crows were to one of their own kind—Including several doctors who, on occasion, actually left me worse off than they found me! To my mind, crows are extraordinary birds; and, to my amazement, a ‘murder of crows’ or an ‘unkindness of ravens’ are the only avian species imaginative enough to conceive and carry out harmful acts of (actually startling) vengeance against those who offend them! There ARE verified historical accounts of ravens and crows following an offender to his home, marking it for future reference, and returning later on carrying things like: live serpents, young rats, or even a burning stick! All of which were, then, dropped onto that person’s dwelling place with what appears to be quite deliberate malice of forethought! (In fact, it is from malicious acts of avian vengeance like these that medieval farmers learned to leave crows and their cousins, the ravens, strictly alone.) You can even see vestiges of this ancient fear being manifest, today, at Great Britain’s Tower Of London where the longtime resident ravens continue to be catered to and treated with studied deferential respect. As the medieval Yeomen Warders once learned: This ancient fear is very well founded; and nobody should ever arouse a ‘murder of crows’ or an ‘unkindness of ravens’ with any sort of careless impunity. (Just one more woebegone ‘pastoral lesson’ the so-called modern world has, rather surprisingly, almost completely forgotten!) Page 2 !