Trotwaer. Jaargang 7

[p. 83]

Sarah Betzky-Zweig
The Circle Narrows

for Jehanna Hornstra

‘February? Herons’
It is the old ones you see now,
too old to fly South’,
she quietly said.

I was sad at what she said,
then passed one ruffled rod of heron
with orange beak,
back turned to me, breast to the ditch.

I was sad at what she said
until suddenly overhead a heron flew,
his wings spread wider than wisdom
in precise patternings against the sky.

To go down, or rather, up in such beauty
is equal to going South.
Let age stay North, its direction spare,
elegant, still strong in measured flight.