Photo Friday Challenge: Arranged

 Murrelets Flying in Formation

They skim  through the air

just above the water,

beaks pointing east toward first light,

arranged just so, a leader,

his three or four loyal lieutenants

jockeying for position and the rest

 of the murrelet troops arrayed behind, 

a surprisingly silent procession.

"Rossano's Mirrored Murrelets" - photo © 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian. All rights reserved.

In the pastel light, the still pool

reveals a parallel flight, submerged,

bellies exposed, floating

in perfect formation upside-down,

a dark ribbon joining each one

to his double like a bloodless umbilical cord.