Great White Heron

I saw him as a ribbon of white light

Moving across the stillness of the lake

Immense wings flapping soundlessly

Rising above this coloured world of green

And at that moment, my feet upon the earth,

My soul took flight to rise with him above

The reaching branches of the oaks

And over the tall tops of massive pines.

Emerging from the prison of the flesh

Into the vast dimensions of the sky

A moment free before it must return

To a body chosen long before this birth

And beat its wings against the iron bars

Of mind and dungeons of our small desires.