Murmuration

As you will know, a Murmuration is when hundreds, sometimes thousands, of starlings gather in the sky over water in the evening time – before they settle down for the night. They create amazing shapes, beautiful rhythms and stunning patterns in the sky.

The starlings gather overhead
The dusk is still and quiet
As willing wings sculpt sacred things
For the coming of the night

Soft shapes are subtly woven
New patterns fast to form
As a thousand tiny starlings move
Like clouds before a storm

In complex flight formations
Their flexible design
Is perfection wing to wing tip
As they shift and realign

Now their leadership is changing
And their roles swap side to side
They're expanding and contracting
Like an ebbing evening tide

This is magic murmuration
Such a complex form of play
It's a festival of music
It's a commune holding sway

It's a search for night time settlings
In which everyone takes part
It's a very special rain dance
It's a moving work of art

And now the swarm's dispersing
And the woods are filled with wings
For the show tonight is over
And the pleasure that it brings