The Great Blue Heron--By Tom Davis--United States

The Great Blue Heron

glides with wings six feet tip to tip
along the winding river
flairs and lights on the bank
among the mountain rhododendrons.
There he stands on stick legs
yellow tipped beak
sleek blue-gray body
waiting
still as death
waiting
neck coiled snake-like
waiting.
The cold water ripples
he strikes
bringing up supper
he stretches his neck
shakes his head
then swallows.
The rainbow trout
bulges in his neck.

In his younger years, Tom Davis served as a Special Force Combat Diver. It seems to him that he spent more time on, in, and under the water than as a landlubber. This and other adventures he has written about in his memoir, The Most Fun I Ever Had With My Clothes On: A March From Private to Colonel. http://www.oldmp.com/davismemoirs