STATION FIVE

V

Sometime during the windless blue afternoon 
The sea becalmed and laid itself down
It had become like a woven blanket 
Floating breathlessly in bold stripes
Delft
Blue
Turquoise 
Silver blue
And in that liquid warp and weft
The sea wove a thick beadwork of birds 
Floating lazily 
Pointing randomly this way and that
There was no counting them
And through the drifting threads
Came white vapor
And in the vapor were birds rising
Sweeping swooping
Circling in dark clouds
Clouds that turned in a flash brilliantly white
Then in another swift
Sudden black turn
(Like a coven of magicians)
Disappearing 
Awaiting the black whale below.