Mergansers

For I few weeks in the Spring and again in the Fall, for years I could mark the seasons by the returning ducks. This year - nothing. I'm pining for my ducks...

Mergansers

Upon this pond our ducks will ply,
Mergansers they are called,
But no, they have not come this year,
I’ve not seen them at all

May they return one temperate day,
Between the seasons, snow and rain?
I’ll keep my vigil on the gray cloud sky,
Until the ice grows back again

They’ve paused here their migration flights,
To take some fish, to rest their wings,
As they flew from the North in Fall,
Or North again the warming Spring

Coming in winging circles over our small pond,
Then landed with out stretched webbed feet
They rent the waters calm,
He’s the coal black drake who will rise and shake,
She’s the phoenix fire dam

I have watched her dive for minnows, while
Ceaselessly he courts his mate,
She’ll bob up again some yards away,
But until she does, we’ll wait

He’s a white blaze on his buffle head,
Can be seen from miles away,
She’s the rustic hue of Autumn leaves,
And just as quick, they blow away

May they come again some temperate day,
Between the seasons, snow or rain?
Or shall I cease my Autumn gray cloud vigil
Until the pond ice breaks again?