TAKEAWAY BAGELS & FRIES... ( A POEM ABOUT A BADGER CALLED 'BLACKLEGS' IN THE GARDEN...)

 Takeaway Bagels & Fries…

They had been put out for the birds as a surprise.

The local, raucous carrion crows,

Or perhaps the bullying magpies which imitate 

An air-raid warden’s rattle at six in the morning,

Although of course, not as an air-raid warning.

There were bagels on one day, on the other left-over fries.

But the scavengers ignored both, in their throes 

Of snatching fallen sunflower hearts, lying in wait

Beneath feeders and threatening small birds with their squawking, 

Which reserved the goodies to a badger, whilst peanut-hawking.

Blacklegs displayed a snout-raising hesitation

At the aromas of the bagels and fries, then sniffed the air,

As if assessing danger from predators upwind, nearby.

It then nudged forth, quite tentatively 

But backed off, almost in trepidation,

Before, with an unseeing yet anxious stare,

It snatched some booty with a theft slick and sly

And retreated between bushes to feed inconspicuously…   

Pete Ray

2nd September 2022…

The regular badger visitor to the rear garden was rather taken aback by the left-over bagels and fries, making sorties from the depths of the garden to steal the goodies and scurry back into the bushes to feed on them, despite the fact that it was dark and there were no contesting adversaries about… 

Tough to film but I managed to get a short clip on my mobile phone…