What creatures are these?

As I was walking across the bridge,

a great blue heron flew over ahead of me,

coming in for a landing.

Wings outstretched, neck crook’d, he glided over.

Then as he cleared the bridge,

that heron began to rapidly slip vertical lift.

He dropped a foot or more for every foot

he flew forward

for a hundred feet at least.

Within seconds the heron descended smoothly

from a height well above my head

to the surface of a shallow pool of water

well beneath my feet.

And then the heron stepped down

as lightly, nearly, as a feather,

and silently folded his wings against his body.

It all appeared as effortless as –

as me putting one foot in front of the other

as I walked across that bridge.

Now his species has been learning to fly

for millions of years.

And mine has been learning to appreciate

beauty and grace for millions as well.

But to actually do

the things we have evolved the capacity to do

within time and space

is something else entirely.

I walked on down the levee

and as I returned

the heron stood still where he had landed.

Surely he had already forgotten all about his masterful descent,

as he had in his flight matched without conscious thought

every feather and muscle

to the laws of gravity and aerodynamics –

that is, he flew with the elegance of

a great blue heron.

I will likely have forgotten it as well

in not too long,

but I managed to see this one heron

in a long line of herons

and for a moment

my wonder exceeded my reason.

As I headed home,

my mind flew over ahead of me

as I recrossed that bridge,

walking one foot in front of the other.