Heron
I startled the great blue heron
when my kayak scratched stones
in the river’s low summer water.
With little effort, like the way
one takes off shoes, the grand bird
flapped long arms, held steady,
until she found the shore opposite me
and slipped into the sycamores
below the bluff. She stayed there
a long time, longer than my life.
— Dave Malone
“Heron” is from Tornado Drill, Kelsay Books, Copyright ©2022. First published in Right Hand Pointing. Used by permission of Dave Malone. Photo by Ray Hennessy, Creative Commons, via Unsplash.
Beautiful
"She stayed there
a long time, longer than my life."