Egret Ghost

Near nightfall,
a great silvery silhouette
flaps in over a copse
of hardwood trees,
glides in to take up a station
beside pale green reeds,
now throws slivers of shadow
on the pewter-colored lake.

Standing as still as a metal statue
while darkness descends,
it becomes emblazoned
on the blackness of water
like a ghost of the great egret
that used to fish here.