Riverwalk, Autumn

Ciao Tutti,

I saw his legs first.  Knobby knees rising above cold river.  Ripples, created by water moving past stillness, led my eyes upward.  He blended in so well with the riverbank, that even when my head had figured out whose body belonged there, it took me several moments to see him.  Long beak and grey feathered body.  We stood watching each other, silently.  Water flowing past, autumn leaves floating down.  Until he decided he no longer wanted to be watched by the mysterious one on the riverbank and spread his wings, gave a gravelly croak in farewell, and hid himself high up in the branches of a nearby oak.