Solitary stalker
March 12, 2001
What diligence, what slow
studied pace the great egret
keeps, fishing the same kink
in the shoreline of the creek.
His eye telescopic,
his yellow beak a sudden
electric spear. He endures
the wind teasing him,
rippling his glassy mirror.
He does not give up when the tide
slips in deeper and deeper. He finds
a sandbar. He's even aware that
I study him. Eventually
he will escape me, wading back
into the muddy fingers of the cove
where the land level is higher - where
he can hold his solitude
like air pockets under his wings.
(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor