I’m just like that yellow crowned night heron

Standing in the front yard starin’

As raindrops fall in the evening

There’s a little bit of sunlight in the distance beaming

Or is it a streetlight

Half the sky is dark, half of it’s bright

Sort of what my soul is like

I walk my dog around the block in the drizzle

We stop to observe the yellow crowned heron a little

No one else is out

I’m alone except for these two

What’s a girl in her 30s got to do

To repel everyone

Except the animals and that little bit of persevering sun

That heron thinks the front lawn is a marsh

He stands on legs like stilts

Does he think about how nature is harsh

Around the corner, he’s on a roof

Does he consider how that house was built

I look around and observe like him

My walk around the block is an ocean

My soul’s barely afloat

Clinging to some sliver of hope

Like that light as it inevitably fades

Are these creatures my only friends

A breeze blows but the heron is not afraid

And my dog’s fur rustles

He twitches his muzzle

As night descends

I observe and receive it with my animal friends