Watching

Sitting by the window of our riparian retreat

We watch the gulls bicker and swoop

In their grey white splendor

Ours is a quiet and hidden seat.

A seal sticks up its whiskered grinning head

And dives beneath the water’s ripple

To search for fish

Deep in the ocean’s hidden bed.

And then the eagle glides to our beach

A large fish within its razor grasp

And there it sits unaware of our regard

Picking at its dinner while the gulls screech.

Soon a fishing boat passes slowly by

The one from dry dock where it sought repair

Another boat sits now rusty in the dry dock cradle

And silence falls on the red evening sky.

What wonders unfold before our gaze

As we rest from our daytime labours

We are but audience to life’s majesty

And applaud the motion of the days.