(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.
Roy, thank you for this, for that, and for everything! We love, love, love you!
Read his poem out loud, in his memory