Egrets


Where the path closed
down and over,
through the scumbled leaves,
fallen branches,
Through the knotted catbrier,
I kept going. Finally
I could not
save my arms
from thorns; soon
The mosquitoes
smelled me, hot
and wounded, and came
wheeling and whining.
And that’s how I came
To the edge of the pond:
black and empty
except for a spindle
of bleached reeds
At the far shore
which, as I looked,
wrinkled suddenly
into three egrets – – –
A shower
of white fire!
Even half-asleep they had
such faith in the world
That had made them – – –
tilting through the water,
unruffled, sure,
by the laws
Of their faith not logic,
they opened their wings
softly and stepped
over every dark thing.


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Egrets