The kindom of the birds
(or; phalacrocorax redux)

A white duck  swam with us
this summer.
Left over from a defunct flock
fed on and off by his owners,
he would playfully  circle us
happy for company.

As  autumn came,
and loneliness,
a lady duck was brought ;
she kept  him company
up and down the sealake shore,
looking for tit-bits,
trying to make nests
 in the sparse grass

This winter weekend,
he was again alone

I saw him swimming to the middle of the  lake
determined
to reach a flock of  gulls;
they flew away.

This morning
the lone condor bird
circled the duck,
flew around and landed
next to him;
and there they are,
a long necked gray bird,
and a small white duck
treading water close by,
meditating in company
on the vastness  of the sealake.