Animals

Animals:

Why are they here?

To take over when we’re gone,

Turn back the clock?

They haven’t forgiven us

For acting smart,

Reforming the wild;

They’re lying in wait,

Lurking in jungles and zoos,

Ready to strike.

Pets aren’t as cute as we think;

They’ll have first pick

When civilization ends;

Get to the larder quick

Before the wolves arrive.

Noah should have filled the Ark

With flowers instead.

They don’t bite;

You can stick them in a vase,

Watch them fade,

Write poems in recompence.

So, watch out!

It’s not just rats.

That horse wants more than oats;

That worm knows more than we guess;

That swan has ‘previous’.

If you see bears in Oxford Street,

They’ll be shopping for human coats.

Prophetic

I hear your voice:

Cassandra in reverse,

Stating the obvious;

While I sit,

Staring at the landscape,

Consulting the gold,

Bowed heads of wheat:

A congregation

Bright with questions

For which the wind,

Shaking the scattered poppies,

Has no answers.

Final Vision

A prophet on his off-day

Has few friends:

Visions tumble,

Believers run,

Even the wind deserts him.

That Ark you built

Rots in the backyard

Unnoticed,

As the earth burns.

Your miracles have come adrift;

Your prayers returned

Unopened.

Now, on the highest mountain,

You try to make amends:

Opening your arms to the

Clouds

In search of rain.