Wonderful. If I could change one word, it would be "this" to "the" or even "a" in line 10.

Isn't the whole point that the bird isn't hungry? It goes for the liquid-filled heart, and leaves the rest. It's literally bloodthirsty, and the narrator's somewhat appalled at realizing he/she understands that.

Yes, I think you're right, Julie. In my earlier post, I didn't take into account the fact that the raptor devours only the young hare's heart and leaves the rest for the caranchos. So, I reckon that, in a drought, a bird of prey might very well go for blood more than for flesh. And yet, would the N feel any different had the raptor consumed the whole leveret? That's a very interesting aspect of this poem.

Maryann,
I read this post as my first here on Eratosphere, and I did not like it all.
After about an hour of browsing I came back to it, and it has discovered a niche within my heart.
The thirst everyone speaks of relates most to me like that of a vampire's. A bird of prey is going to thirst in the sense that it needs. What that need is obviously depends, in this case a meal. So the way I took the second half of the poem about the stream was one large metaphor. It seems to represent the blood flow of the leveret. The leveret itself the well, and the its lack of life and blood the drought itself. As if you were going for a metaphor within itself, and in the poem together, you achieved it.