Autumn Cranes

Photo by John Cobb on Unsplash

Two birds upon the sodden field
Did land in gentle rain,
Their solemn bond forever sealed,
The graceful autumn cranes.

Vast sweeping wings so skillful fold,
All gray and mottled down,
Their slowly stalking frame to hold,
In fall without a sound.

Their flashing scarlet heads do dip
Into the aging earth
And eyes do glitter at some quip
With cackling calls of mirth.

Fly! Fly! Why stay down here with us?
You could be far away.
Hemmed in by concrete metal rust
And noise that does not fade.

Yet thank you for your visit brief
That furnished such delight,
Your flight indeed is no small grief,
But memory so bright.

form: quatrains in common metre
meter: alternating iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter