Heron Bridge

At first it seemed unreal

          so still, a sculpture

                    A shock of disbelief

that yes - this is a real bird

          Cool grey - near blue

                              & ragged

                    individual feathers

          hardly forming a wing

More an umbrella - torn

          half heartedly covering

                    its fragile body

                              Then - it moves

                    one brownish leg

          precisely - one step

                    elegant - stops

Then another - knee backwards

          head cocked - stops again

I do too - stopped cold

                    Also a sculpture

It’s thin swan neck

          curving a question mark

                    to long stiletto beak

          Preceding blackest

                    most piercing eye

Sharp look out for frogs

          or ripple of small fish

Lending an elegance

          to an - otherwise

                    matter of fact

slightly humped foot bridge

          spanning Burry Pill

                    below Briarley

          Framing a composition

of mood ... complete

          as willow pattern china

Even to pollarded ash

          spiky thin branches

          splayed - graceful

Blue white in morning damps

          Slender grey heron

lifts languid wings

          becoming a whole

          new shape - and flies

                    to some more distant

          private haunt

on the flood plains

                    of Cwm Ivy