Dinner With Diversions 



squelching noises, it runs an intermittent line of 

 black. 



But all the while there has been more active 

 drama, unexpected and spontaneous ; for my ac- 

 tors have no more formal prompting than their 

 instinct, and no notion of their cues. Often they 

 will leave the stage quite empty. As often they 

 will be upon it, taking possession of it with an 

 onslaught from both wings. But even if they are 

 absent when I take my seat, I know where to 

 find them; for this little gully is a thoroughfare 

 for birds who find it the clearest course to their 

 nests behind my house, and for creeping things 

 who use it as their mart and build their houses 

 in the swale. 



Out over the bay the fishhawks are still cir- 

 cling, the sweep of their great wings now dark 

 against the sky, now glinting white as they soar 

 aloft and catch the last splendor of the sun. 

 Down they drop, sometimes to rise after a fruit- 

 less plunge, sometimes to wing straight towards 

 me as they make their way to the gaunt button- 

 wood midway upon the hiU. Often they fly so high 

 that I can see only the regular beat of their great 



[85] 



