In just a few short lines, an owl arrives, and the poem makes it feel both heavy and weightless. The bird is "full of night," as if it has swallowed the darkness it flies through, yet it is also "light as / all the life / it might / eat." The title, "Strigiform," is the scientific word for the owl order, which gives the poem a calm, almost observational tone before the image takes over.
The last lines carry the sting. The owl is light as the lives it might eat, so the small creatures below seem to become part of its body before they are even caught. Hunter and prey are folded into one silent shape. The line breaks add to this: "it might / eat" hangs for a moment before the final word lands.
The speaker doesn't state a feeling, but the mood is hushed, watchful, and a little chilling. There is wonder at the owl's soundless grace, and an awareness that this beauty depends on hunger and death.