The Egret

A snow-white egret passes our cottage
By the Gumbo Limbo and the Traveller trees.
With its ballet dancer’s step and mobile neck
It reminds me of something……
Ah, yes! Alice playing croquet in Wonderland,
Striking the hedgehog with the flamingo’s head.
Like Alice’s flamingo the egret’s head moves
Restlessly back and forth,
In counterpoint to the watchful head.
Oblivious to us she seeks her prey.
Is she used to human presence,
Or does hunger cast thoughts of danger from her mind?

Down the sandy path she walks,
Inspecting the oleander and hibiscus,
Investigating the philodendrons for tropical bugs,
And the wart fern and monkey grass for ants and beetles,
All the time silent and alert.

Then suddenly she pauses on one leg,
Simply hovering there,
Stock still. A moment of suspense,
She has seen something move in the ixora plants.
She darts forward, a white flash .
……………………

Lazy and replete from its own early dinner
The gecko doesn’t seem to struggle.
It is lost in disbelief. What happened?
With a snap of the bright yellow beak the gecko’s gone,
Another short-lived actor in life’s cruel drama.
Unconcerned, the egret moves on
To peer beneath the Ti plants.

March 2012