I stood up and went back outside.

The raven had its eye on me.

And I was watching it. It wanted to speak. It had something

to say. I took a few steps toward it. “Yew yew,” it said.

“Me me” I said. “What about me I come in peace. I mean

you no harm. But enough about me. I hear you are afraid of

nothing. Tell me, is that true” The bird just stared at me

and said, “Yew yew,” again, and this time I took it to be

in an a sort of accusatory manner.

So I said, “All right, I confess,

it’s me, I’m the one, I’m the source of all the problems. So

what do you want me to do about it If it wasn’t me it would

be somebody else.” And then the bird flew off, right in the

middle of my speech. I was just warming up. That was just my

opening volley. He’d made his point, though. It was me.

—James Tate from “The Raven Speaks”