The Gull

seagull flying

Unexpectedly the solitary gull
encounters an updraft.
He spreads his wings,
enchanted, and floats up.

With an ever so slight shift of feathers
he traces spirals
in the air
under the watchful eye of a rising sun.

A flicker of light on his chest
the silver outline of a silent love,
He glides, hugging a curl in ascent
and down an invisible slope.

His circles broaden and shift eastward
send him adrift
in a delight of warmth,
excitement, newness and joy.

He rides weightless;
lets time wash over him, forget him,
as he plunges,
then soars in the wonder
of a magnificent air wave that carries him so high and wide
in a flow just made for him…

In a sudden gust of cold west wind,
the butterfly effect of a faraway dream,
the thermal collapses.

He sinks,
capsizes,
but in a frantic
flaying of wings
recovers.

Stunned, he returns to the chance encounter,
to seek and search
for the heady heat,
so potent,
so present
so perfect
who vanished so quickly…

In three determined
wistful strokes
he quietly speeds away
in a straight line,
eye on the horizon…

About emmylgant

Cloud watcher and dreamer sometimes wise, often foolish, but I am what I am.
This entry was posted in Life, Pandora's box, Poetry and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

12 Responses to The Gull

  1. arjaybe says:

    What must it be like to cut the line between heat and gravity?

    rjb

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  2. PapaBear says:

    In the picture, the sky is so blue it hurts the eyes to look at it. I love to watch gulls in their aerobatic play like you described so wonderfully, Emm. Pelicans are fantastic fliers too, skimming the water with hardly a movement of their wings…., and their dives as they feed are breathtaking. Happy day to ya!

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    • emmylgant says:

      Yes! I love watching pelicans skim the curl of a wave as if they were surfing in a different dimension. You know they are having a blast!.

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  3. Incroy*******able!

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  4. Mike says:

    A Waltz, a Foxtrot and a Tap-Dance choreographed into this magnificent dance of nature. Brilliantly executed poetry – well done.

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  5. themodernidiot says:

    So cool–I learned about birds flying. I never thought about the hot and cold. I would have so done better in science if it had been written in pentameter lol

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