A heat haze the blue ball's wake
as I watched a family play catch
on the walk to Hollingworth Lake
I mentioned Archaeopteryx in the hide
then heard a pompous coughing voice
piping up from the other side
of course you know that wasn't actually a bird yes?
I saw behind the ducks the game go on,
the ball getting thrown higher and faster
until inevitably the ball is gone
and as a flash of blue splashes into the pool
"kingfisher?" he said as his binoculars twitched
allowing me to reply, no longer the fool
of course you know that wasn't actually a bird yes?
as I watched a family play catch
on the walk to Hollingworth Lake
I mentioned Archaeopteryx in the hide
then heard a pompous coughing voice
piping up from the other side
of course you know that wasn't actually a bird yes?
I saw behind the ducks the game go on,
the ball getting thrown higher and faster
until inevitably the ball is gone
and as a flash of blue splashes into the pool
"kingfisher?" he said as his binoculars twitched
allowing me to reply, no longer the fool
of course you know that wasn't actually a bird yes?
I really like this poem Abacus, I can picture the scene vividly. I can also unfortunately picture the pompous sounding fellow, as you do sometimes meet people like that when birdwatching - it's one of the downsides of the pastime! I quite often avoid hides when there are people in them, which makes me sound rather anti-social I know, but then I do tend to like being on my own when observing and enjoying nature.
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