RETURNING TO RELATIVE SAFETY...

 Returning To Relative Safety…

He scrambled, tentatively

From a trench, over the parapet

Into the darkness, indistinct and crass.

He listened, furtively,

Close to the ground, sniffing to interpret

Smells, particularly gas.

Crawling onwards towards barbed wire 

Entanglements, he paused, aware

And listened again, more intently.

Then, wary and on the side of caution erring

He aborted the repair mission, turned and scrabbled

Apace, alarmed, yet with salutary discretion, 

Back to the trench, into which he tumbled…

It scurried, furtively

From a sett, over its parapet

Where dusk, distinct was cast.

It listened, tentatively,

Near the ground, sniffing to interpret

Scents and hear sounds which passed.

Shuffling onwards, avoiding barbed wire

Delineation, it hesitated, aware

And listened again, most intently.

Then, alert and prudently abandoning daring

It aborted the feeding session, swivelled and recoiled 

Apace, forewarned with an innate suspicion

Back to the sett, into which it stumbled…   

Pete Ray

24th July 2021  

It was windy on 23rd July and there was a reluctance for most of the badgers to emerge from their sett to feed.

One was brave enough to climb from its hole but it was very wary and when it retreated two or three times to take cover, I thought about a WW1 soldier, whose night-time task was to climb out from a trench into ‘no man’s land’ and repair damaged barbed wire entanglements, also on all-fours, also very wary and ready to retreat at the first signs of enemy activity…