STIFLING SILENCE & SUNSET EMERGENCE: my new poem about the Temple Balsall badgers...

 Stifling Silence & Sunset Emergence…

It was dank inside the copse, autumnal and still,

Yet the silence was stifling, disconcerting.

Bedding of grassy clumps lay outside setts,

And soil had been freshly shredded by rake-like claws.

 Standing motionless, I hardly dared to shift my feet,

Until four badgers emerged at sunset, the thrill

As exciting as ever, entrancing and fascinating,

As the creatures, behaving almost like pets,

Foraged across the barren earth upon black paws

For peanuts and scraps of chicken meat…

Pete Ray

18th October 2022 

There is a small window these days before darkness falls but thanks to a fairly clear sky, four badgers were spotted in the copse, searching out the food left for them…