Entering the Kingdom
![Raven Raven peering over to you in a dark background](https://elizabethagouldstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/iStock-1415220925-1024x683.jpg)
Entering the Kingdom
by Mary Oliver
The crows see me.
They stretch their glossy necks
In the tallest branches
Of green trees. I am
Possibly dangerous, I am
Entering the kingdom.
The dream of my life
Is to lie down by a slow river
And stare at the light in the trees–
To learn something by being nothing
A little while but the rich
The lens of attention.
But the crows puff their feathers and cry
Between me and the sun,
And I should go now.
They know me for what I am.
No dreamer,
No eater of leaves.