Procession, Padden Creek Estuary

At low tide, mudflats and a newly-cut creek channel ~

Crows and gulls pick at the mud
Canadian geese and mallards congregate

As tide flows in or ebbs out, presenting shallows ~

A Great Blue Heron stands so still
until sudden strike

At high tide, estuary and ocean are one ~

Belted kingfisher trills its looping return
branch to water to branch
Sea otters sun themselves on a dock

If any salmon make it up Padden Creek ~

This estuary and its fresh water current
will be entry point

I’ll be here, witnessing this procession of nations:
feathered, furred, scaled. Or, I’ll be elsewhere,
dreaming of a place for all nations.

~*~

Andrew Shattuck McBride
NaPoWriMo 2014 ~ Day 4