Joanne Cucinello

Frost-tipped trees are smoky grey this late afternoon,
the last rays of winter´s light. I pull over to the roadside
and turn off the engine in this tranquil spot around the bend.
Sun-flecked ice crystals have captured me, coloring the water´s edge,
lending a glow to the tall bending reeds that grace this spot
where little swallows stop to feed.

A small group of mallards are floating near by, drawing circles
on the water as they part it into ripples. They enjoy their
fellowship and daily dunking. If birds can be happy . . . they are!
Stay and watch, Nature says. Stay and take it in!

Such peace approaches . . . the softness, the feathers!
A pair of swans, white as clouds, spread their wide feathered wings
for a grand display ~ and I am loving it!
Long necked graceful curves poise soft above their floating billows.
True to their nature, side by side, these mated lovers glide ~
white sailed ships on the horizon.

The quiet inlet is full of life preparing for sunset and the end of day.
I watch a school of stripers break for one last time, as if to tease
the gulls still hungry, as violet dusk begins to filter in.

A young green-headed mallard is also hoping for more as he bops along
the inbound current dunking for his dinner ~ bottoms up!
Almost hidden, a long-legged egret scrapes for his last worm
in the shallow mud among the reeds.
The earth is almost frozen now and digging doesn´t bring up much.
He does what he must do, day in ~ day out.

Small lesson . . . you are not a bird, but you also must ´do what you must do´.

I know it´s time to leave, but I´m waiting for the wild geese to rise
again unannounced, loud trumpets in the wind. And here they come ~
parting the horizon with bird chants, singing the glory of another sunset.
The echoes of their voices fade now with the light as dusk moves in,
but I will sit here just for one last moment, so grateful
for the gift of nature´s peace, this balm
for my spirit as night draws in.