Hunter's Moon (Poetry)
30th December 2012
The night air sharpens appetites — cats are on the prowl;
field mice scurry to avoid a predatory owl
gliding, noiseless, overhead as poachers set their traps
by river banks where shadows jerk like puppet shapes, and bats
feast upon pale paper moths that catch the moon’s round eye
staring, coldly, through a cloud-grey camouflage of sky.
Hunger drives both skulking fox and cautious water shrew
as whiskers twitch and noses quest, interpreting each clue
wafting over field and lawn and tarmac-conquered lanes
where hedgehogs shuffle, trailing slugs, but something sly remains
hidden in dark undergrowth, mysterious, until
a rifle spits, then silence marks its quick, unsporting kill.
field mice scurry to avoid a predatory owl
gliding, noiseless, overhead as poachers set their traps
by river banks where shadows jerk like puppet shapes, and bats
feast upon pale paper moths that catch the moon’s round eye
staring, coldly, through a cloud-grey camouflage of sky.
Hunger drives both skulking fox and cautious water shrew
as whiskers twitch and noses quest, interpreting each clue
wafting over field and lawn and tarmac-conquered lanes
where hedgehogs shuffle, trailing slugs, but something sly remains
hidden in dark undergrowth, mysterious, until
a rifle spits, then silence marks its quick, unsporting kill.