The dance of light
           on the river surface
the silver waters
           carried out to sea

By Blackfriars Bridge
           a cormorant perches on one
of the abandoned red piers
           of the old Chatham and Dover

It pauses for a moment
           in its day perhaps to catch
its breath if indeed birds
           do get breathless and

have to catch their breath
           I see so many birds
darting too and fro
           as though their lives

depended on such frenzy
           and quite possibly they do
slaves as they are
           to their appetites

unlike us who have
           domesticated time
and with it so much
           of the world around us

John Lyons