The White Owl (La Lechusa) Part 2 Poem by Juan Olivarez

I found my legs and ran inside,
under my bed I ran to hide.
And I heard it outside as it flapped away,
Things would be better in the light of day.

my mother's voice made me come awake,
She was outside with the woman next door.
I came out to see her and I started to shake,
And to the cold ground I froze once more.

Rosa the woman that lived next door,
had some ugly scratches on her face.
Some called her a witch, and some a whore,
It all came back to me in a kind of a daze.

There was a long red welt on her neck like fire,
That ran down into her breasts.
Like she had flown into a telephone wire,
She smiled at me and I backed up fast.

From inside my room, I could hear her laughter,
And I wished it all a dream.
Like a bird of prey on a wooden rafter,
her voice was like the white owl's scream.

9/26/12 Edinburg Texas