THE FEAR OF CYCLES & JACKETS... (My new poem about the badgers at Temple Balsall...)

 The Fear Of Cycles & Jackets…

It wasn’t the creaking

Of cheeky magpies, clacking like vintage 

Football rattles which caused 

The badgers to stare wide eyed, paused

As if spooked.

It wasn’t the driving

Of passing vehicles to and from the village,

Intruders, which caused

The mammals to gape, their foraging paused,

As they looked…

It wasn’t the bleating 

Of grazing sheep, busily engaged

In a field, nor honking geese which would cause

The badgers alarm and their incursions to pause,

As if afeared.

It wasn’t the roaring

Of noisy aircraft which rampaged

Overhead on flight-paths which would cause

The mammals to retreat and their scavenging to pause,

As they peered…    

What precipitated the hasty rushes

Back between untidy bushes

Into safe dugouts deep and dark, 

Leading to setts remote and inaccessible 

Were the pedal pushes of cyclists, barely audible, 

Yet to badgers, their presence was troubling and stark

But soon the faintest contact, the merest of brushes

Of quilted sleeve on jacket pocket would disturb their hushes… 

Pete Ray

14th July 2024…   

All the above was perfectly true, as at least seven badgers fed on the scattered food in a Temple Balsall copse.

Two cyclists, barely audible, passed by and the brocks retreated temporarily each time but when a jacket sleeve rubbed against a pocket, the retreat was even more desperate…

Remarkable…