Came with the House

We've got a reservoir
at the bottom of the garden,
steep slopes like a hill-fort,
grass sheared by sheep,
water fenced off with spikes, as if
guarded by Ancient Britons
like a secret weapon
which glistens like a sword
dangled above our heads trusting
aging ramparts
the way Naples trusts Vesuvius.

There's the Metrolanders
squeezed like toothpaste
out of London,
cutting Elizabeth's hunting forest
down to size,
guzzling up the water last summer
till it thickened with mud
and we told depressed flowers
to snap out of it
and joined the sheep praying for rain.

Must mention the daylight fox

we saw last Sunday

in all his naked glory,
his brush afire
amid the kindling grass.
We have his garden now,
and two dogs keeping him out.
He stared through the fence,
my eyes met his as his met mine.
We come in peace, I whispered
on behalf of civilisation,
and he ran away

to enjoy being wild.

.

Author's Note

Original version of "Came with the House."

Reviews

[Beccy]

We are the ultimate encroachers are we not. All nature retreats from our path, but there no doubt will come a time when the fox takes back the garden that is rightfully his.

'There's the Metrolanders
squeezed like toothpaste
out of London,' Indeed!

Beccy.

[Gerald Parker]

Yes, guilty despite ourselves. Thanks for reading, Beccy. I haven't seen the fox for three weeks. The last time he was limping across our garden with a raw patch on his leg. Not done by our little bichons, I must point out.