Sea Bird - Patricia Zube

A cormorant floats on the sea
bobbing like a dory; the black bird hunts
stealthily sculling about with webbed feet.

He keeps a tethered distance from the shore
watches with green eyes and waits
for a flicker of fish, then dives for more.

In practiced turns of sleek precision
he propels like a torpedo, snaps his prey
surfaces wherever the chase takes him.

With orange beak, he flips his find skyward
gulps it, head first, then starts the hunt anew
rides each swell of surf, pursuing undeterred.

His mate tends her nestlings on the cliff, high
from where he perches on weathered rocks
in a warrior pose, wings spread wide to dry.