Standoff with a Blue Heron

Standing defiantly on the opposite bank like a crane on an ancient Chinese scroll.

Startled, he unfurled his sail-like wings

and rose from where he stalked the grassy bank.

“Hey!” I yelled.

The blue heron took off flying low across the pond.

“You!”

It’s hard to know what words to use.

when a wild bird of prey

no matter how astonishingly beautiful,

is eyeing beloved koi.

The truth is he may be focusing

on the frogs

which are smaller than the fish,

and have fewer sharp edges.

After a two-year hiatus

frogs have returned,

I’ve missed their splashing as I approach,

and their night song.

A turtle, resembling a clump of dirt

or a good-size rock,

the very opposite of the elegant bird,

appears in the shallow water

among the feeding fish.

Mud and grass cling to its shell.

The featureless head reaches out

gulping fish pellets,

each gulp, a tiny splash.

Standing defiantly on the opposite bank,

like a crane on an ancient Chinese scroll.

The heron,

expert at hiding,

takes one haughty step

behind a leafy branch.

“I can still see you!”

Or is that a patch of dappled sunlight?

Photo: Jasper MacDonald