Wildlife

~

an impromptu Sunday walk

around our nearby lake,

the weather defying the wet forecast

developed into a cold bright

intermittently sunny morning,

there being plenty of strollers

we tried to keep up a decent pace, frequently

giving way to mountain bikes

prams and kamikaze electric scooters

that I would have gladly launched

into the water, with their riders too,

you made me laugh, mistaking a

favourite heron for a penguin,

to keep the levity alive, I claimed

that the hoof tracks made by the

police horses, set deep in the mud

following yesterday’s deluge

were really those of elephants,

both of us feeling guilty as we giggled

past the other walkers,

downstream, the sluices

had been opened, so the usually sedate stream

before us raced like grey quicksilver,

in uncharacteristically deep haste

unsuitable for both penguins and elephants

do penguins eat frozen fish?  you asked

I suppose they must, my reply,

after our loop around the village

you noticed the heron was still on station

motionless as a garden ornament,

asking innocently,

do you think he’s waiting for a fish to thaw?

*

© Graham R Sherwood 11/23