Photographing White Pelicans

I wanted them all and all at once,

Wanted to capture the whiteness,

Their beaks and underwings,

Their pink-mauve pointed beaks,

Their bright eyes, round with life.

I wanted to release my capturing

First upon the camera’s little screen,

Validating my eyes’ first vision

Of the magnificent movement.

I wanted to imprint the sight of them

So fiercely, so deeply,

That the captured digital image

Would validate, render more noble

The first eyes’ grasp of the flock.

But,

I was acting in a cloud of knowing

That this beautiful encounter

With this grand flock of white pelicans

Would pass,

The memory of the white masses’ beauty

Would be lost.

--November 17, 2013