Great Blue Heron
At twilight it rises off the polished mirror pond,
on cupped wings moves gray and steady above
the ripples of grassland, circling only to circle back.
All day it stalks the dark shallows for a meal,
all this orange season on stick-legs trolls to survive,
sporting its feather necklace, its backward head plume.
Often we are strangers to Earth, stumbling over the thorns
of our days. Here, sky sets fire to the silk sleeves
of its clouds. If you love this planet, stand at attention,
take only what you need, only what is rightfully yours.
Notes
This is the second Great Blue Heron poem by Nebraska poet Twyla Hansen in this digital collection. Which do you prefer, and why? In this poem, what phrases do you find to be most effective? (I lean towards "stalks the dark shallows" and "orange season.") How do you explain the apparently radical break in subject matter between the first two stanzas and the last, which introduces "we"? What is the connection (and contrast)? Is the "message" of the final stanza too didactic, or powerfully appropriate?