blue heron

a ghostly presence in his favorite haunt,
the heron silently stalks in the shallows
in striated afternoon light;
the apparition reflected in still water mesmerizes,
distracting him from his quest for food 

consumed with consuming, he beguiles
himself only momentarily, but finally
in hunger, pokes his beak below the surface
to snatch a fish, subsumed into the mirror until
his own image shatters in ripples and washes away

Liz McFadzean