By Mary Oliver
Some herons
were fishing
in the robes
of the night
and a low hour
of the water’s body
and the fish, I suppose
were full
of fish happiness
in those transparent inches
even as, over and over,
the beaks jacked down
and the narrow
bodies were lifted
with every
quick sally,
and that was the end of them
as far as we know
though, what do we know
except that death
is so everywhere and so entire—
pummeling and felling
or sometimes,
like this, appearing
through such a thin door—
one stab, and you’re through!
And what then?
Why, then it was almost morning,
and one by one
the birds
opened their wings
and flew.
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It's been one of those days where I don't even know where they day went -- chores not quite finished, nothing significant accomplished. We had two rainstorms, but after that the weather was cooler and gorgeous, so we went for a walk to see all the crab apples coming into full bloom -- the storms blew away the last of the cherry blossoms.
We just spent the evening watching the National Theatre's Jane Eyre, not one of my favorite novels but it's a really interesting interpretation, with music and a man playing a dog, and you can watch it for free on YouTube all week! From Carderock before the park service started closing the towpath to visitors, here is a heron successfully fishing in the C&O Canal:
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