I dig my claws into you
by Sarah White, Tintern Grammer
Years 9 – 10 Ekphrastic Poetry Finalist
‘Crow Eating a Persimmon’ by Ohara Koson (c.1910)
You were the persimmon, glowing in the autumn light,
and I was the bird, dark against the sky.
I came to you hungry, though not for fruit,
but for the warmth I saw inside you.
You hung there softly, asking nothing of me,
while I reached for what I could never keep.
One bite, and suddenly, the world was sweet.
But I feared that loving you meant losing you.
So I stopped before your sweetness disappeared,
and learned that love is not possession.
Some things are beautiful because we let them remain,
untouched beneath the fading leaves.
And if winter takes you from my branch,
I will carry your warmth beneath my wings.