ON HIGHWAY 70, SOUTH, TO SACRAMENTO--
        CHRISTMAS DAY
            Michael R. Collings
                c. 2003
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  First, an egret, show-white hump
  Unmoving in the ragged field,
  Chalky blur as our car whips by,
  Pure against stiff breeze-blown blacks;

  Then, some miles further south,
  Three--one alight, two awing--
  Blending light with cloud, reflecting
  Sky to fallow, waiting fields.

  Then, on both sides, a dozen . . . more . . .
  Sweeping angles, binding earth
  To heaven with lustrous, facile flight,
  Mirrored in flat watery panes.

  No more--or . . . wait . . . silhouette
  Against distant snow-caps, one more
  Wings silently east, seeking dawn,
  Surcease from winter's murmured ice.

  At last, no more. Marsh-black winter
  Draws itself to a horizon
  Unremittingly flat and gray. . . .
  Where egrets must await the spring.


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