The Flight of Geese

The dawn is young, so quiet and still,
I see through mist the distant Wold;
A frosty morning, so clear and chill,
The trees above just tipped in gold.

And shafts of sun now pierce the mist,
And highlight yonder cottage eaves:
The distant hills with haze are kissed -
I hear the rooks their rookery leave.

But now I hear, above my head,
Faint sounds, then sights so strange I see;
Across the clear blue sky now spread,
An odd formation – a swaying V.

Geese in formations so wondrous and strange,
Yet more appear when one has cleared;
Across the sky so blue they range,
Chattering and honking, a sound so weird.

Together they fly to distant marsh,
Through realms unknown and dangers unseen;
Through cold so bitter to shores so harsh,
Together they fly, no fear, I ween.

What power now drives the geese so hard?
What conjures such a sight bizarre?
Who holds his flock in such regard?
Wherever they live, whoever they are.

On bench I sit, in sunshine bright,
And ponder all the sights I’ve seen;
In God’s provision I delight,
So blest to see such life serene.

9 November 2017

This poem was written following the amazing sight of flight after flight of Canada Geese in v-formations flying north on an amazingly clear blue-sky morning.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says:

The big, black-necked Canada Goose with its signature white chinstrap mark is a familiar and widespread bird of fields and parks. Thousands of “honkers” migrate north and south each year, filling the sky with long V-formations. But as lawns have proliferated, more and more of these grassland-adapted birds are staying put in urban and suburban areas year-round, where some people regard them as pests.