Ten Ducklings and Three Men

Three neighbours meet over the plight of ten ducklings...

Tony Kahn, a Boston DJ, told of a story how a ducks loss of all her chicks led him to meet and bond with the rough people from quite literally the wrong side of the road.

 

"Ten Ducklings and Three Men"

 

 

In the quieness of the evening

Towards the end of day,

A duck and ten ducklings

Slowly made their way

Towards a pond at the end of the road

Across a road of traffic lanes ten

Looked upon with amazement

By the DJ and his wife when

They walked by quacking

And to the DJ's surprise

Three duckings fell into a grating

Before his very eyes

And the mother about turned so quick

Her lost young for to find

And lost the rest who walked again across the grating

As duckilings do, behind

Their mother, for where she walks

If safe they can be sure

But it seems somehow

This ducks judgement was poor!

And, oh, the panic of the mother duck

To see her young were gone

And looked for the danger around her

Who took her chicks, each one!

And finally seeing none

She let a wailing cry

The angiush of a grieving mother (duck!!!)

As she looked to the sky

The last bastion of danger

Of hawks and all their kind

Never of the sewer beneath her feet

Came upon her mind.

And the observing human

Said be must intervene

And save the chicks that were lost

That once behind her had been.

And three shadows with bloodshot eyes

With slowly shuffling feet

Reeking of cheap off-licence alchohol

Came from the flats across the street,

Yes, those men from those flats

From the other side

Men of no morals or charachter

Within those walls reside

And without much explaination

The grill from the street was prised

And one of those rough charachters

Slid in to the sewer, in front of the duck, surprised

And one by one from the mire

Where the DJ and his friend did stand

Ducklings ten, so gingerly

Were found and freed by hand

And as if it were the most natural thing in the world

On seeing all were fine

Mother duck walked down the road

Her ducklings ten, in line.

And neighbours who before were strangers

One who thought the other two were scum and tough

Looked at each other as humans

And the look was enough

One said as they walked away

"I love animals, you see"

And the rich man the DJ

Saw that they were the same as he.

So the next time you see rough people

And at them you look frown

Ask yourself, wuold you climb into a sewer

If ten ducklings fell down?

Reviews

[Wordcrafter]

This is a lovely poem, I will have to come back to read you more when there is a bit more time. Just spent a week on writers retreat and we had a visiting writer to read from his work, Maurice O'Riordan, full of Irish wit and word-magic, have you read him? But then I never met anyone from Ireland who did not cast word spells!

[Becca]

Excellent message...
Enjoyed the poem very much.

[cyanskye]

Very nicely done. I love the rhyming pattern.

[HoorayForUnderdog]

beautiful!

[Crazy Cat Man]

great piece

[Samuel Dickens]

A great moral, and a fantastic poem, Tomas. Having come from "rough people" stock myself, I'm not at all surprised at their actions. Sam

[TL Boehm]

To put it eloquently as I can muster pre-coffee - that was freakin' awesome. Stellar ryhme scheme, great story telling and the moral - spot on. Well crafted, finely tuned poetry. Impressive and a joy to read.

[Legion]

Why yes I would. Done something similiar with 3 killdeer chicks. Great poem with a great moral. Loved it.