Aviary

Vast glassed world, tall

jungle, macaw, and you.

Treetops flutter, erupt

in squawks, and black wings

sail diagonally down, down....

We discover hidden blossoms, pink

and dewy, a pair of molting mallards,

a stalking bittern with her brisk chicks

scratching and scurrying under spread leaves,

and broad earthen banks moist and ribbed.

Lush and humid paradise, emerald

and heron green, arm in arm

we stand, merging, burgeoning,

taking gentle flight.

Jim Carlisle