Hermione The Heron! Poem by Denis Martindale

I stared in wonder at my street
This morning once again,
What would I see and think a treat
Before the clock struck ten?
Well, I saw pigeons, robins, too,
And then to my delight,
I saw a large bird in plain view
Approach from left to right.
I thought, 'Is this a pigeon? ' yet
This bird flew differently,
'No, that's a heron, you can bet! '
I thought with certainty.

No flapping, taking time to glide,
Close to my home in fact,
I stared amazed, I must confide,
Just seconds to react!
Then soaring fast to yonder tree,
With dangling legs to land!
I'm typing now, because to me,
This large bird looked so grand.
I've seen one heron on a roof,
Before that flew away,
But now I saw the living proof
Of where such herons stay.

For surely two at least live there
In that large yonder tree,
And so at last I'm well aware
How blessed I'm now to see.
These eyes have seen the robins hop
And pigeons in their prime,
But everything came to a stop,
To see this bird this time.
To think I might have missed it all,
Just flat out on my bed!
Praise God, I've seen a miracle,
By getting up instead!


Denis Martindale.23rd of August 2026.


Here is another street-view wildlife poem by Poemhunter poet Denis Martindale. This morning, 'just as the day was dawning', Denis looked forward to another window-view Nature Study. It was a cooler day, and the birds weren't in any hurry to flirt with each other or gather any food either. It was a gentle, laid-back morning, so that explained why only a few pigeons were seen. A robin or two joined in now and then. While birds flew across the skyline in the distance, this time a large heron came into view.

This bird was beautiful, gliding gracefully and approaching nearby, moving gently along from my left to my right. I recognised it as a heron within seconds. This was extremely rare to see in suburban street settings such as mine. In the last twenty years, I've only seen two herons until today. This heron seemed so magical that I nicknamed the beautiful bird 'Hermione the Heron' because I regard this time as third time lucky!