Poem: Solitary Birds
In this week’s Poet’s Corner contribution, Ross Jackson captures a tranquil lakeside moment enhanced by the setting winter sun.
Solitary Birds
Winter sun lingers in this gloaming
gold leaf connecting
lakeside skeleton trees
a slender waterbird, its fishing range
enlarged by recent rains
tarries where lake water
has cut new edges to livid turf
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I see it double, since still water
makes a picture of it
in its hunting stance
this moment when
sun is liquefied
above the horizon
shattered by
approaching sounds
scattering each of us
our disappearing outlines
hazed by last of winter sun.
Ross Jackson is a retired teacher who lives in Perth with his wife and their cocker spaniel. He has had his poetry and short fiction published in various literary magazines and websites in Australia and overseas. His collection ‘Mallee and other poems’ was published in 2016, while his new collection ‘Time alone on a quiet path,’ is due from the University of Western Australia Press, UWAP, this October.