time in a pelican’s wing
lake george’s
pelicans
stationary
as elders or royal relatives
immobilized
by an absence of light
stand formal
like knives & forks
stuck upright
in mud for the night
day will have them up
using themselves
differently
spooning mud
water vegetables
& fish
so what
if they’ve been having
the flavours of the
lakes they fished in changed
as the nameless
brands of water
were formed and disappeared
on this continent
for 30 or 40 million years
they have followed water
scooping fish frogs crabs to live
to here–
today lake george
is the clearest of soups–
unknowing
as the tide’s pollutants move
on the shore-crabs
as the effluent flows
down the rivers & creeks
as the agricultural chemicals
wash off the land
into streams
what time is left
in the flight of their wings–
unlike humans or sun
they are not
big drinkers of lakes
they will dribble back the water
keep the fish
we are joined to them by ignorance
what time is left in anyone’s drink
– J.S. Harry (1939-2015)
from A Dandelion For Van Gogh (Sydney, Island Press, 2000)