Early Bird

My arrival beat the sunrise; it was still dark at the small jetty. I dried the wet skiff, mind alert to the soon to be lifting light. Nearby, an unseen water bird clattered into the darkness. Startled, I looked up, there above me a hole in that lightless sky a circle of glowing orange surrounded by the dim dawn. ‘I am blessed’ I thought. As I gazed, the heavens opened, a deluge of blacked-out rain smashed down upon the sleeping land. I got under the down-turned boat and lay down as the Ohio river faded away replaced by a raging waterfall, one that obliterated that same sunrise that had yet to show up - until at last that early bird I had heard flew back to my ears and minds-eye. Emerging from my makeshift shelter I watched a rare black swan settle and preen, drying its feathers, as if it was perfectly natural for a river to drown itself under a small, up-side-down skiff.