CERTAINLY... (A POEM ABOUT CERTAINLY NOT SEEING BADGERS...)

 Certainly…

Certainly

The replenishment

Of water,

Refreshed and poured

And the nourishment 

Of morsels

Scattered abroad,

Failed to attract the pallid mask

Of just one badger’s face

From the sett.

Any trace

Of a member of the cete

Had been scuppered by the raucous,

Rattling, banking,

Uproarious clanking

Of farm machinery in an adjacent field,

The intrusion untoward.

Thus the copse, 

The evening dusk

And daylight’s lapse

Remained bleak, 

As the tractors’ flashing lights glowered,

At my silent regret,

Certainly…

Pete Ray

28th September 2021…

Too much machinery noise deterred the appearance of badgers in a Warwickshire copse.