Tag Archives: wildlife

The other nations of this Earth

November 26, 2022Life, nature, philosophy, poem, Poetry, Wild lifeHenry Beston, Life, nature, philosophy, poem, poetry, Wild birds, wildlifeThe Cheesesellers Wife

The other nations of this Earth live along side us
Misunderstood, undervalued, used and abused
So many of us not longer see them
We fortunate few may wilfully misunderstand
But many see the truth, see the power and strength
Even in a hen, blackbird or crow
Animals are the other nations of this Earth
Caught in the net of time
Travellers with us on this one green globe

“….the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
~ Henry Beston

Dawn Chorus

October 22, 2022Life, poem, Poetry, Wild lifedawn, dawn chorus, Life, poem, poetry, Wild birds, wildlifeThe Cheesesellers Wife

They begin in the dark
as do we all
waking from warmth blinking

Their first and best songs
slashing concealment
in defiance of the night

Sharing with earthweal’s Open Link Weekend #141 — why not join us??

Small Gods

October 15, 2022Life, poem, Poetry, Wild lifeGods, Life, poem, poetry, wildlifeThe Cheesesellers Wife

The very small have their own gods
small quivery furballs, starving songbirds
tiny insects almost sprayed out of existence
they all call on someone
in that last moment

after Terry Pratchett

Rabbits

October 4, 2022England, Life, nature, poem, Poetry, Wild lifeDverse, England, Life, nature, poem, poetry, Ridgeway, wildlifeThe Cheesesellers Wife

Walking the Ridgeway track
in a dripping autumn
rabbits scatter away
lollop towards the grassy mound
of Waylands Smithy
an ancient tomb
haunted by a Norse godsmith
here in troubled England
but I have no horse to shoe today

Simply rabbits to shoo away

This poem was written in response to the Quadrille (44 word poem) prompt over at dverse.

Peace and Joy

July 16, 2022Life, poem, Poetry, Wild lifejoy, Life, peace, poem, poetry, wildlifeThe Cheesesellers Wife

Sun escapes littered clouds
switches on barcode tree shadows
cars rush to destinations unknown

Yet Red Kites swirl and swoop
kitter and keeter in bright air

High on the Downs

May 4, 2022England, Life, nature, poem, Poetry, Wild lifeEarthweal, England, Life, nature, poem, poetry, wildlifeThe Cheesesellers Wife

Long grasses sift the evening wind
scent it with pollens
stars prickle through high cloud

somewhere, Skylark still sings
finishing the day shift
elsewhere, Owl calls
announcing night

dusk empties the land
of humanity
all close together
in their dim shelters

here on the ridge
Hare comes close
closer
black tipped ears erect

we return her stare
for what seems
forever

Written for this weeks earthweal weekly challenge: SPIRITS OF PLACE

Crossing the park, 11am Monday

February 7, 2022nature, poem, Poetry, Wild life, winterEarthweal, Life, nature, poem, poetry, wildlife, winterThe Cheesesellers Wife

Scattered folds of night
litter bright mown grasses
spring up into the air
startled, flapping
at our arrival

We watch them wheel and
turn above us
spot a Red Kite floating high
turn again, caw to each other
settle under advantageous trees

Kite eats carrion not crow

For this week’s earthweal challenge, we are asked to “write of WILD MIND. How does green fire take root in the thought of our poems?”

I am offering up a little vignette of parkife here in my small town. After a morning of Internet research for a local project, I took a walk, and was lifted by my local birds.

Robin in the Fig Tree

December 22, 2021Christmas, nature, poem, PoetryChristmas, nature, poem, poetry, Robin, wildlifeThe Cheesesellers Wife

What are the words?
Bright, cheery red, bob-bob-bobbing?
My Robin has read Ted Hughes
he pulls worms fighting from the stiff soil
terrorises chickens, birds a hundred times his size
fights to the death for territory.
He is now lurking in our small unproductive Fig tree
that leans awkwardly out of a fake ceramic tub.
The pigeons by the pond look uneasy.

Brief

October 27, 2021nature, poem, Poetry, Wild lifeDeath, Life, nature, poem, poetry, wildlifeThe Cheesesellers Wife

Something is dead in the hedgerow
there is a sharp sweet pungent smell
so much bigger than the tiny corpse that birthed it
a little dormouse whose soft nose
once twitched in sleep
is now laid out, opened out
a feast for the myriad creatures of decay

Heavy on the wing, the albatross approaches the rock

September 29, 2021nature, poem, Poetry, Wild lifealbatross, nature, poem, poetry, wildlifeThe Cheesesellers Wife

She soars ridges and slopes in the air
sees its fluid shape in in her pale yellow eye
dances on winds, a long haul tourist

She needs the lift of the air to live
maybe she brings the wind with her
to this vertical face of dead mosses and nests

Now at the rock, she dances on once more
this time to a lover, long unseen
looks forward, after so many years on the wing

to the earthbound pleasures of children
and a future

My Cheese seller challenged me to write a poem with his title…….