Kingfishers and Dragonflies
Last year while off to the Abbey of the Genesee for retreat and rest, I was entertained by two Kingfishers actively feeding in a stream near the retreat house. This year I happened to see one but it was quietly perched over the water. Not feeding time?
But I did note the dragonflies.
One curiously attempted a landing on my head. White patterns on its wings and body. Another steel blue. Another using a strong dry branch in the wind. For twenty minutes on end it eyed its prey and did its own feeding. And curious about me, too.
I was reminded of Hopkins' poem:
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame...
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same...
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.
And reminded, too, of this simple Hiaku penned by a Gesu student about an unlikely sight there on North Philadelphia's Thompson St.
A butterfly lands on a leaf.
I look at it.
It looks back at me.
