Poem

by Jon

(from) A Portable Gallery of Pastoral Animals,

by Jon Swan,

10 June 1929-28 September 2022

There,

Where

You'd most expect him to be --

In auroral, oral committee

Of one,

Enjoying the sun

On some stick or stump,

Some pail or pump,

Or pile or dump,

On a rick or a rock,

Or on bric-a-brac,

Or, often, in autumn, a pumpkin,

Stands that typical bumpkin

Turned booster,

The ROOSTER.

That alert bird

Always has the first word,

And says it excessively.

By the dawn's surly light,

He's incurably bright,

Like a breakfast-club type, or m.c.

His friend, the HEN,

Is happiest when

--Under the pebbles, among the clods,

She's busy collecting hexapods.