This Happened

After Carlo Betocchi

Beneath the weir, five fishermen
Have waded out with reel and line.
They cast and wind, then cast again
Against the current’s buckling shine.
This happening as fish ascend
The frothing stream at summer’s end.

Those thin legs of the heron stick
Like withered reeds into the creek,
Where duckweed flowers green and thick.
Lonesome and still, that eye and beak–
Although a distant concert floats
Toward all a flock of blaring notes.

The sky sulks, sinking under rain,
As sodden shawl and collar pass
Into the church, where all remain
Until the storm ends with the Mass.
Then shall the cherry blossoms drink
New light through ivory and pink.