In takeoff,
white feathers give liftoff,
as Egret gets airborne from log trough.
I wonder,
just where it might wander,
in search of a nourishing dinner.
White avian king of the shoreline,
white hunter,
long-legged brine stalker, to fine dine,
you hover,
as instinct has wrought your design lines
forever.
With long beak for spearing
the morsels that show while you're peering
through waters for tidbits that flourish in shallows,
Like crayfish, or minnows, in wallows,
that bird feet are rearing
from hollows.
In instants,
you lift to the heavens.
Wherever your destiny beckons.
|
Author Notes
I captured this Great White Egret in my camera lens, just as it was taking off, the other day while out walking at Battle Creek Park in Maplewood, Minnesota. It was in a pond at the leashless dogpark. I saw a German Shephard heading for it, and knew it would take off. So, I had my camera ready. Here is the shot I took, and the poem it inspired.
This poem is written in Amphibrach Meter.
An Amphibrach is a metrical foot used in Latin and Greek prosody that contains 3 syllables, rather than the usual 2. It consists of a long syllable between two short syllables. The word comes from the Greek, "short on both sides". Some books by Dr. Seuss contain many lines written in Amphibrachs, such as these from "If I Ran the Circus" (I added the capital letters to show the meter):
All READy / to PUT up / the TENTS for / my CIRcus.
I THINK I / will CALL it / the CIRcus / McGURKus.
And NOW comes / an ACT of / eNORmous /eNORmance!
No FORmer / perFORmer's / perFORMed this / perFORMance!
Because of the 3 syllable meter, Amphibrachs require a line length divisible by 3. So I thought it only logical for me to echo this, with stanzas divisible by three also. I wrote it in three Sestets (6 Line Stanzas) and a Tercet (3 Line Envoi).
I played accordingly with the line syllable count too. The poems lines are laid out with syllable counts as follows:
Stanza 1: 3,6,9,3,6,9
Stanza 2: 9,3,9,3,9,3
Stanza 3: 6,9,12,9,6,3
Envoi: 3,6,9
Sort of a Festival of threes.
This photograph was taken by the authoir himself on May 29, 2016.
|
|
