a neatly-scribed rising
sun in iridescent phase-change
moving through electric-
mauve vaporizing clouds
the long languid days of heat
finally catch up
to the winter chill
remnant in the deep earth
thick banks of recent water
drape over the islands and open sea
as if to suffocate
silhouettes
of herons at dawn
gleaning low tide shoreline
focussed, feeling pressed by memory
of relentless cold rain of dim winter days
but by afternoon
all will swelter
fog burned off
herons sated
in the drowse of summer
*Copyright 2010 by Luther Allen. This poem appears in The View from Lummi Island.
. . . . .
Great Blue Heron Copyright © 2008, Alan D. Wilson