Lately

I lately find myself pondering
the soul of the flock.
I see, on wonderful, rare occasions,
pelicans rising up in the morning above Lake Lewisville,
circling and wheeling,
twisting in the light,
now bright,
now disappearing against the sky,
now reeling into sight again–
and then they peel off
into long great V’s,
heading for the far-away coast.

Or blackbirds,
roiling in wonderful spherical masses
that all turn at some unheard command,
like fishes before the shark.

I’ve heard this described as an evolutionary mechanism,
designed to fool the predator into thinking of the mass as big and scary
instead of the individual as tiny and helpless.

I lately find myself pondering
the soul of the flock of humanity,
at this time of the world,
emerging post-modern explanations
like individual sparks in the darkness
that from some great distance
might look like a
growing earth-wide glow,
were we attuned to seeing at such frequencies.

Pwllheli, Wales        May 2013