The Journey (Passing Through Vermont)
- There's a moving afoot
- on myriad wings,
- southward.
- There's a miracle abroad,
- scraps of paper things
- orange and black,
- leaves in the wind,
- this way and that;
- on zigzag course,
- impossibly, right on track.
- So many leagues to go
- before the colors fade
- and winter cold invades.
- Do they fly at night
- under hovering stars,
- and risk an owl
- or bat attack?
- How do they know which way to go?
- How many hours on ultra-light wings
- before they come to rest?
- Monarch, to thee I bow
- and then to kneel,
- and wish safe passage
- on autumn's restless wheel.
- David Parkinson
September 2006