Every evening as we sit eating our dinner
Looking out the windows watching the pond
Flocks of laughing gulls pause and drop down
Coming to take a drink and then take a bath.
Listening for these garrulous shorebirds calling out
Such a variety of vocalizations besides a chuckle
Sometimes more like crying or talking it over
Coming to a consensus on what they will do.
How gracefully they skim the surface to drink
Veering left and right in a dance of avoidance
Before settling down in a tight cluster to bathe
Including stragglers arriving a bit late to the party.
Such a delight for us to witness their display
Learning the patterns in their behavior
Providing a bit of continuity in our lives
When human affairs around us are upended.
An individual bird flies towards me and up overhead
Pulling itself along as if its wings are oars
Tipping to turn like an airborne top wheeling around
Before gliding back down to rejoin the others.
When the group rises up together wings fluttering
The flock moves as if all of one mind
Flashing white wings synchronized so beautifully
As I watch spellbound silently transported.
