Gaping, insistent
raucous throats plead.
A mother swoops to feed the brood.
Soon satisfied at first,
the intervals grow shorter.
Weary parents toil in shifts
to quell the unrelenting cheeping.
Downy plumage covers scrawny skin
as jostling rivalry shrinks
nursery to prison cell.
The feeblest infant, losing
out to stronger brothers,
plummets to untimely end
between the jaws of pouncing cat.
One intrepid fledgling, hardier than most,
mounts the twiggy Everest to stand in awe,
cast wide-eyed gaze on earth and sky.
Swithering, interminable pause of doubt,
before primeval instinct sends him fluttering
uneasily until, with growing confidence,
he soars in exultation.
(c) Vivienne Blake
Another poem typed up form the ‘old bits and bobs’ file. I really can’t find this one on the blog already! Sally
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