the heron and the creek

A Great Blue Heron

the creek draws us:

we even call our place

“The Cabin on the Creek,”

kids lose themselves in it, by it,

letting whim pull them into adventures

in which stick, rocks, and water are transformed,

and so are they,

two days ago, the creek pulled a great blue heron to it,

the heron owned the creek by the cabin for a while,

and, what is amazing, we noticed it in time to watch it,

there must be many stories told beyond our notice,

I shadowed this magnificent bird for long careful minutes,

no abrupt moves, careful melding into its world,

so that I became just a part of its world, not a threat,

I took 73 pictures of the heron becoming one with the creek

stealthily moving up the stream,

stalking the minnows, each blissfully ignorant of it,

the slender neck elongating, pausing, then piercing the surface,

each time rewarded with a small fish in its rapier beak,

a quick swallow, and I could see the fish becoming the bird,

how thin it looked when it faced toward me,

how big it looked when it unfolded its wings,

how majestic it looked when it flew,

how wondrous it was that the heron and I had a time together,

while it fed its great hunger for fish,

and I fed my great hunger for wonder.

by Henry H. Walker

June 25, ‘20