It was three weeks ago when I
last saw the Great Egret foraging
for twigs and sticks to carry back
to the nest it was building, it being
a neutral pronoun since Egrets
and many birds do not abide by
strange human gender driven
divisions of labor and child rearing.
I so wanted to sneak out back
with my camera and catch
the moment when she launched
into the air for the nestward journey,
a small branch grasped in her beak.
I had done it many times, but
someone reminded me that I
as an alien in the Egret’s habitat,
even if that habitat abutted my yard
and my presence would disrupt
the task she was assiduously performing.
So I stayed inside imagining
locking my focus and as she lifted
my finger pressing on the shutter
button that, of course, was not there.