Aviary
Vast glassed world, tall
jungle, macaw, and you.
Treetops flutter, erupt
in squawks, and black wings
sail diagonally down, down....
We discover hidden blossoms, pink
and dewy, a pair of molting mallards,
a stalking bittern with her brisk chicks
scratching and scurrying under spread leaves,
and broad earthen banks moist and ribbed.
Lush and humid paradise, emerald
and heron green, arm in arm
we stand, merging, burgeoning,
taking gentle flight.
Jim Carlisle