Metallic iridescent sheen, spikes and flashes
against summer’s lighter blue,
Aquamarine-tailed dinner jacket
accessorised by a starched collar of white.
He speeds low level,
like a pre-programmed cruise missile
Hurtling, single-minded,
Along this valley’s meanderingly slow river
Desperate,
he seeks to support his mate.
This Halcyon’s gilded breast
Flashes along a murderous path
like a Belisha beacon
reflected in the almost clear waters
First this way, then that, under, then over,
Covertly mapping this riverscape.
Unseen by those Pisceans, subsurface,
He and his mate are still both young.
He must impress her.
Show determination.
He spies a befitting perch
That affords sniper-like cover
Shadowed from detection by tall reeds and rushes
And then,
He dives
Like a wing-suited base jumper
Free-falling from the Burj Khalifa
His long black rapier bill
Humbles the water's surface
Plunging him deep into the crystal depths
tagging two unwary small silvered fish
In one motion, he returns to the surface
But struggles to re-break the water’s tension
with this additional load,
His feathers become imbued
with the staining of a green algal bloom
Then success, but at a price,
He must rest
pausing again on the small branch,
He looks at his catch, satisfied.
A few seconds pass, and he’s off
flying determinedly upstream.
where his future progeny's mother awaits
on their branch,
outside their nest,
He offers her the sticklebacks
She takes his gift gratefully
Devouring eagerly
She also takes comfort in that
he will be a good provider,
Both to their soon-to-be young family,
And to her.
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