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“The Discourse of Thought and Memory”, or, “Twa Corbies Reminisce”
(c) Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
We think when there is no one else to think.
We remember when no one else can.
That knight, murdered,
his body hidden behind the old fallen wall:
Only his hound, his hawk,
and his wife knew where he lay;
they, and his killer,
and us.
(The man who murdered him was his wife’s new lover, by the way.)
Sure, we fed; I ate his eyes.
I’m a raven, after all.
What would you expect me to eat, oats?
And yes, we plucked the golden hair
from his head to pad our nest:
(Muninn was ready to lay a clutch of eggs.
We are ravens, after all.)
But when we had eaten, and taken what we needed,
we took one other thing from him:
the knowledge of his situation.
And this we carried with us,
back to Valhalla, back to the Allfather,
and there we shared it with him,
and then there was one more who knew
of the man’s murder.
What he did with that knowledge is,
of course, his secret.
We are ravens, after all.
But perhaps not just ravens.
All Their Voices 