On the Verge

This poem captures the abrupt, animalistic emergence of sorrow, personified as a magpie descending to confront a threat.

Abruptly, with the fret
of animal instinct
blackly bothering its eyes,

sorrow peeled away from joy.
Beaky, monochrome, full of fury. 
A crowbar crossed with wings,

swooping over tar, over car,
to engage the lone threat
from a distant murder’s fragment.