Sandpiper Days
We all would be an eagle always if we could
and never a meek shorebird
always fierce and victorious
never a seeker of bugs in the sand
and so we miss the qualities of who we are
on our sandpiper days
when we are long-beaked pacers of the shallows
and not divers in the wind with talons cocked
when we are unremarkable, no candidate for flags,
no enforcer of anything, not anathema to snakes
only something bringing magic to the landscape,
something wild and gentle all at once
whose song is wheet wheet wheet for a day
and who the cries of conquerors abjures
yet who the heart of a solitary wanderer
makes leap with joy
30 July 2020
Texas Jim
Prospect, Nova Scotia
www.granitecoast.ca