St. Petersburg February 15, 2016

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without my camera

Today I went out without my camera

My otherwise constant companion

So I could not take snapshots to examine later

To select images to show what I saw.

As I remember the places we went

And what we found as we looked around

The scenes in my mind’s eye are perfect

Though I know they will soon fade like a dream.

I can feel the morning sun warming us

Standing there in Boca Ciega Millennium Park

The bright light penetrating the shrubbery

Where the white-eyed vireo flits about.

A moment here, a moment there

A glimpse of the head or back or side

Now and then the unique call notes

This is an unusual encounter for us.

Lunchtime we browse the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary

Just off the beach along the Gulf of Mexico

There are black-crowned night herons nesting everywhere

In the enclosures and outside in the trees.

Brown pelicans in breeding plumage in a colony

Hatchlings raising a screeching cacophony

The place is a concentration of feathers feeding

Be careful to keep a hat on as you walk underneath.

The afternoon bike ride to nearby Eagle Lake Park

Takes us in a loop circumference past the picnics

Crossing the bridge over the wetlands stream

We hear a call that’s different and stop.

Looking down from the bridge you see it

A sora rail so elusive we have never seen one before

Standing still there in the sun so close to us

In front of the marsh grass where it otherwise hides.

Such a lovely bird and what fun to add to our list

A lifetime bird an unexpected sighting

So pert as it flounces yellow up under the tail

Passersby stop and delight to see what we see.

Today I experienced these things directly

Without the intermediary of the camera.

Tonight I recall a little of what happened

Telling about it to hold the memory close.

Valentine

Looking through the sentiments in the cards at the store

None of them spoke to me words to say to you

Or else the graphics struck me wrong

Leaving me with no card in hand to give to you.

Perhaps you find yourself in the same dilemma

The way our lives mirror each other.

Perhaps we will laugh and be happy to be free

To forget the obligation of the calendar date.

Considering the ritual of false expressions and betrayal

That is the learned disappointment for so many

What matters is how we behave towards each other

Your honesty, consideration and gentle touch.

We do not order our lives around some saint

Preferring the tongue in cheek Darwinian joke

“I select you, Naturally.”

Though a shared piece of chocolate would be sweet.

Philippe Point and Largo Central Park February 12, 2016

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