How Many Nights

How many nights,

have I lain in terror,

O Creator Spirit, Maker of night and day,

only to walk out

at morning over the frozen world

hearing under the creaking of snow

faint, peaceful breaths . . .

snake,

bear, earthworm, ant...

and above me

a wild crow crying 'yaw yaw yaw'

from a branch nothing cried from ever in my life.