Its small beady eyes watched from higher up than you would think  it could fly.

The silver darts broke the blue and green that glistened like glass plates below,

there was a stillness, it almost echoed,

the rock cliffs held their breath,

the unicorns surfaced on the break,

the breeze chilled the flowers,

and the periwinkles buried beneath.

Too soon, so fast, an eye could not have blinked, it seemed.

A single silver dart was clutched and caught and heading skyward

never again to slip between the forests of bright weeds and salt.

Unpublished work copyright Justine Lamb 2008