Blue Heron Poem by Allan Hayes

When the fog lifts the heron is there.
What have you learned about patience, about silence.
Everything is revealed in this moment.
In the snow. In the sleet. In the heat. In the cold.
Always in the same place.

When the road is there. When the road is not there
And the trees have fallen.
And the sky has emptied it's liquid belly,
You are there.
You stand in the same place forever.

When we stood up and looked around, you were there.
When we lay back down and are gone
You will be there.
You have seen the great beasts come and go
Did you notice, or are you that still.

If it's not the same river twice
You are the same.
The river changes around you.
In your quietness you stand
Alone in your chosen place
Patience embodied into form
Consummate stillness.

It's not your feathers feet or beak
That fascinates me.
It's not the birdness of you,
It is the calm patience without remorse.

What do you give me? What do I take away?
When you spread your dark wide wings,
I stand in awe of your simple understanding
you can fly.

You help me feel my place in time.
What does it mean to stand apart from it all?
For me, you will mean things from the past are
always in our midst.