A F Harrold

Goliath Heron – Red Sea

Halfway across that strand of damp sand
she paused, to stretch her legs, and reaching down
plucked up the shell of some bewildered thing.

Deep in the shade of high and narrow walls,
which like aquaria flashed with quiet fish
who watched the harried people flashing past,
she understood this shell was out of place.

One way, ahead, a prophet waved his staff,
one way, behind, the chariots rattled near,
while here she eye-to-eyed some monstrous fish
which flicked its tail and vanished in the murk.

She dropped the tasteless shell and in good time
stabbed her beak and snatched a silver flash
and jerking into flight she was away.

Water trickled out the growing hole –
a squirt and then a slit and then a gush –
and in a moment the miracle was undone.