Grey Heron

Gold cherry

By onemorething

Fri, 19 Jun 2020
  • 4052 reads
14 comments
 

A heron will not eat a moving meal,

preferring instead the cold and motionless

taste of the freshly dead; an eel unwriggled.

Moon-grey, frocked as a Victorian governess,

in treetops there are planetary eggs

who will soon demand their fill.

Here, in this vigil, disguised as stillness,

the silence holds its violence close - 

I have seen it arrange itself 

as a heaviness of mist, felt the weight

of its grief descend, the constriction of an eye

until a spear of beak breaks the water,

a living statue snaps its bill 

and digests the universe.

 

Image from pixabay, also on Twitter: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Faustino_Bocchi_-_Landscape_with_heron.jpg

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Comments

Submitted by littleditty on

A moving meal? There are different kinds of herons i guess...a sooper victoriana heron poem..will read again.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Ha. Yes, I have read that about herons. They stab something repeatedly, fish floats dead, down the hatch. They also swallow small mammals head first so that they swallow with the direction that the fur lies. There's a name for it, but I can't remember. Is it the nap? Then they stand about digesting it all; the perils of eating things whole, I suppose. Glad you enjoyed - I do think they are very Victorian. Thanks for reading it ld. X

 

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

There were two in a tree in our garden last night, eyeing our puddle of a pond - poor frogs. 
This poem captures these quietly powerful birds so well.  It's our Facebook and Twitter pick of the day!  Do share it.

Submitted by onemorething on

Oh yes, they do like a frog dinner too, don't they. Which would make sense because I think the name heron comes from a French word. I could just be making that up though...I hope your frogs escaped largely unscathed. Thanks ever so much for Pick of the Day, that's started my weekend off very nicely and now I think I'll have a gin and tonic. Rachel :)

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

They're so majestic-looking aren't they? And slightly unexpected somehow. Onemore I know so much more about birds since you returned to ABCTales - thank you!

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Yes, they are, and I love the look of them in flight too, long legs out behind them. And yes, they definitely have a look of the unexpected about them! You're welcome, even though I do take poetic liberties with them at times. Thanks insert. :)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

"Disguised as stillness" is wonderful. I always think herons are called Hubert as they look like a great uncle I saw at my brother's christening. Although I didn't know about herons then.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

I think Hubert is a perfectly reasonable name for a heron. Thanks for reading it, Di. :)

 

Submitted by MJG on

loved learning something new in a beautiful way, great that connection between stilness, silence and violence, loved the Victorian image, the planetary eggs, how grief descends in the constriction of an eye. Very good poem ...

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thank you MJG, happy you liked it. Especially glad about the planetary eggs, it worked for me, but wasn't sure if it would work for anyone else. Thanks for reading it. Rachel :)

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Very informative, Rachel. Years ago in Rapallo I saw one standing on one leg at the edge of the sea. It was there every morning and flew off in the evening. I thought it was rather strange as they are supposed to be freshwater  birds.
Congratulations on Pick of the Day.

Luigi x

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Luigi. I think they eat salt as well as fresh water victims. I often stand on one leg in queues, a fact about myself that I've noticed since standing in more queues than usual for pandemic shopping. Perhaps I am part heron. Thanks for reading and your lovely comment. Rachel x

 

Submitted by Parson Thru on

Whoooooeee!  I never knew that.

What a great description and so much more. You capture that "arranging" of itself really nicely and what it evokes.

Grand stuff, onemorething.

Parson Thru

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Parson, very happy that you liked my Heron poem. Rachel x