horizon cuts the sinking sun
colour slow drains from winter sky
by ones and twos, tens and twenties
low over fields, curving round trees
swirling gather, twisting, climbing
as thousands, more, tens of thousands
in intricate aerial ballet
starlings sculpt transient beauty
a function of proximity
speed and distance in soaring flight
form shifts with shapes fantastical
ever changing, unrepeated
until in the twilight gloaming
the murmeration drifts to roost
chattering till in darkness lost