Bosque del Apache on the Rio Grande

Established wetland restoration
where migratory birds may land,
eat and rest their weary wings awhile;
humans, too, in celebration,

Witness the annual migration
assisted by binoculars,
and telephoto cameras, radical
size for peak magnification.

Arriving with anticipation,
white snow geese with black wingtips, sand
hill cranes, Canada geese, and Pin-tail
Ducks arrive in V formation,

Form throngs in full participation.
Black crows and ravens flock and land
in golden hedgerow trees, bevel
a murder conflagration.

Fledgling red-winged blackbirds move as one
with iridescent starling cousins, fan
and turn with startling ease, surge so tall,
re-shape, then reverse direction.

Established wetland restoration
invites migratory birds to land,
eat, and rest their weary wings awhile.
humans, too, in celebration.



A la 'tuin poem:
the poem consists of 4 lined stanzas. There is a minimum of four stanzas.
The syllable count is 9/8/9/8
The rhyme scheme is abca, abca, abca, abca
Stanzas 2,3, etc must follow the same rhyme as in the 1st stanza.
The 1st stanza is repeated in its entirety as the last stanza.