Hamerkop Advent by Brian McClorry, SJ

By Brian McClorry, SJ ©

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In the beginning was the Word... (John 1,1)

A brief shape overhead across the sky,

clear enough to know it's not a hawk

sails towards the lake, and wheels

low, almost kissing the surface to write

with wing-tips for a pen, again and again

to get all the message down,

every letter feather-light and ripple-free,

the light even across a reach of water

flat as a piece of paper, where

the words come and go like butterflies

in the Hamerkop's angled passes,

wings level now, now nearly vertical-

a repeated witness in this splendid time

of what might not be commonplace. [The Hamerkop, or Hammerhead, is a distinctive South African bird.]