WHISTLING SHADE


Pelican Tale

by Pamela Hammond

I look a pelican straight

in the eye, and he looks at me.

Wings wrapped close,

he perches on a dock.

I stand near a clock,

tick tock.

He watches my every move.

A wisp of fishing line dangles

from his body-length beak.

"I've seen dinosaurs," he tells me,

"and I am going to be around

for a long time."

And I say,

"Oh, I'm not sure

about we humans

of short-term vision."

He adds, "I see just fine.

I have to start fishing now."

I say, "I think you should

because those fish

may be gone before

either one of us

knows it."