Ducks

Yes this is true - it happened to me today, much to the amusement of a cyclist also on the tow path!

I was walking along the canalside
Being followed by a duck
I’d reached in my pocket for something
And that was all it took
It looked at me and quacked and so
I quacked back in reply
It then set off in hot pursuit
And others heard it’s cry
And looked up from their slumbers
And climbed onto the side
Their quacking rose in volume
Like a uncontrolled vast tide
They made me feel guilty
For I hadn’t any bread
I thought I should go buy some
The poor things must be fed
But in the end I didn’t
I forgot whilst in the Range
But when I walked back home
They still remembered me, how strange!
This time I did not talk to them
Or even meet their eye
Till I was safely past them
Then I bid them all goodbye!


Karen Holmes
12 April 2010