
Jessica Norman
Time to Stand and Stare
Updated: Oct 8, 2021
I made a friend today as I
stood and stared by the riverside
stock still, one meter tall,
not half as wide, without a care
he stood my heron friend, beside
the stream: light dancing over leaves above
we stood together; standing there
I watched as he, without a care
bent down his neck and caught a fish
a glistening, red, wet shape: a dish
fit for a King or Queen, thought I,
enriched by regal dusk light, which began
to fade into a velvet night: but then
as wind brushed through the boughs
my heron friend, so still before
took flight: leaving me alone once more.

after Leisure by William Henry Davies