The heron, an eagle, loons, and me

It was the middle of the day when I climbed in

A two seat canoe, a paddle, and me, I did begin

 

The water was calm and close to crystal clear

Moving through water, and birds, all I could hear

 

Not a cloud to be found among the blue sky

The sun warmed everything from up on high

 

I imagined this place in a time centuries before

Wishing it were then, and how I’d still explore

 

I moved slowly, and quietly, letting my senses record

The smells, the sounds, the sights, while aboard

 

A faint noise from above sparked my heightened sense

I moved toward the cattails and reeds oh so dense

 

I squinted and searched for the origin of the sound

And soon, a great blue heron in a spruce, I found

 

Moving away to allow it some space, another sound

I heard from across the cove and closer to the ground

 

It was another heron calling, or at least to be heard

When above my head appeared, yet another bird

 

Passing the spruce and gliding in, a bald eagle did rise

The majestic bird landed with grace before my eyes

 

Once in his perch, silence ensued, nothing dared move

Or so it seemed, but for me, my site to improve

 

All at once a splash from behind, and I turned to see

But nothing was there but ripples left for me

 

Resuming my gaze the calm pierced masked in black

The loon appeared from below, after a snack

 

My masked playmate called another yards away

The eagle, or not, the loons wanted to play

 

Time stalled and rested with me there in the sun

Sitting still in nature, watching, I was having fun

 

My mind raced to the eras past, land minus flaw

And I wondered what I missed among all I saw

 

As self-imposed limits do, measurement moved me

I paddled in, slowly, so as to stretch time, there to be

 

The loons called across the water while the heron hid

The eagle cleaned his wings, and I smiled like a big kid

 

I left, wanting freedom for always, to just be

The heron, an eagle, a pair of loons, and me

 

 

 

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