But how to accommodate death?
Tsang-kie invented writing, it is said,
by observing bird tracks around the lake.
From their prints he could tell what songs
had been there. But the night birds
leave no tracks. The owl under the sickle moon
glides silent through the dark, touches down
only to seize its prey. We know its home
from the dropping of skulls,
pellets of fur and bone.