my brother tells me on the phone
during lockdown
that since it’s now clear of effluent
spoonbills have returned to the Manukau Harbour
large white goose-like birds he says
standing asleep in a bunch
under a shoreline tree
or shovelling the mud for tucker
at low tide off the Weymouth boat ramp
all this is in the context
of his recent successful cataract surgery
having healed to give him
better eyesight than ever in his life
coinciding with something worth seeing