THE RAVEN-POV

It was truly a bleak night. The storm was becoming too unbearable even for me to tolerate. Feathers soaked from all the heavy rain, I beat my wings as fast as I could until I found any sign of shelter. As I was running out of time, I spotted a mansion below me. It was big, roomy, and quite possibly it had some nooks or crannies for me to rest. I’m smarter than the average raven; I understand human speech and I even know one word of human language, a word that I had taken a liking to for some odd reason. Nevermore.

I saw a light through the window, so I knew someone must’ve been home.  Lightning cracked across the sky and I figured this was my only chance to avoid the worst of the storm. As painful as it was, I hit myself against the door, asking for an invitation to enter. After a little bit of time, it opened and my interest piqued as a grievous human male opened it. I was only interested since he kept talking to the darkness and then to me once he saw me. Without hesitation, I flew into his regal home and perched on a feminine bust. Hey, I may know a human word, but that doesn’t mean I know human art or culture.

The human male creeped me out. He kept talking to me. Normally, humans would ignore me or try to chase me away (but I usually end up flying to some corner of the house where I know they wouldn’t find me). However, this human was staring at me and trying to communicate with me. This was getting really weird. I wasn’t asking for much. I needed a place to stay for the night until I could get back on my feet. Nothing more.

Anyway, when I finally realized that he was talking and when I also realized I said, “Nevermore,” he asked me if I was leaving. Of course, I was going to leave, not right away, but I was. I wanted to tell him, “Yes, I will be, but only if this blasted storm ends soon.” Unfortunately for the both of us, I said, “Nevermore.” Great. He kept going off on that.

Then this human asked me in his weirdly poetic speech about if he would forget this “Lenore,” whoever she was. I was trying so hard to tell him that I knew nothing of Lenore, but of course, the only word I said was “Nevermore.” I really pitied this male until he decided to yell and get mad at me. It’s not like I had anything to do with Lenore. He begged me for any knowledge of “balm in Gilead.” I didn’t know if it had any deeper meaning since I didn’t understand whether or not it was a reference. I responded with my one-word phrase, hoping that by some miracle it translated as “I don’t understand the reference. Please restate the question.”