Five Poems

Bittern

it thrives
in brackish water
where the sea has broken in –
in marshes and on river banks –
edges of solid ground.
When danger comes
it imitates the reeds
sticking its head up straight
and swaying in the wind.
A nervous bird, more often heard than seen,
its hollow boom
was heard at night
in ancient and in empty times –
in Nineveh and Babylon.




Empire of the Dandelion
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