Eight-line Poems

Arctic Tern

Arctic Tern

Sharp-etched against the sky,
your narrow wings and pointed tail,
forked like the swallow’s,
white in the storm-washed wind,
speak only of your streamlined speed
and grace, pure humility
omitting mention of your long migration,
pole to pole and back again.


Line count: 8
Free verse
For Express It In Eight, 05.12.21
Prompt: Tern.
Note: The Arctic Tern has the longest migration of any creature on earth, travelling from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back every year. The route taken can be as long as 44,000 miles.