On Silver Back Crows Poem by Francis Duggan

The mountain sheep farmers have nothing nice for to say
Of the much maligned birds of feathers of dark and gray
And this in itself does not seem a surprise
Since of weak new born lambs they do pluck out the eyes

Any sheep farmers that i ever did know
Had never one nice thing to say of the silver back crow
To them they are predators to be shot on sight
That to die of old age they do not have the right

But despite bad Winters and shootings and poisonings the black and gray birds survive
And in the harshest of environments they are known for to thrive
And since humans they only have reason to fear
They fly off if anyone to them comes near

To prey on the weak to them a natural thing
And because of them many young lambs die in the Spring
But Nature she does work in her own way
And for some to live some have to die true to say

No friend of the sheep farmer the silver back crow
They pluck out the eyes of young lambs leaving them to die painful and slow
But in Nature where there is even life in decay
The weak to the strong often do become prey.