Epitaph.

 

 

Epitaph.

 

She lies a sorry sight,
tail like brush-fire,
body tyre-squashed,
reddening the road.

Stark chequered legs,
shoulders hunched
as an epitaph
to her final attempt
at swift flight
from a dragon bent
on annihilation.

 

Eyes arrowed
for reaching home
and needy den
in last motherly run
she spurts on
to meet breath's end.

Feeding quest
stares from this dead
female fox as
new cubs wait scared
and hungry
while some uncaring
motorist speeds
on his negligent way
and C'est la Vie
he indifferently says.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i am never indifferent to this....we have so much roadkill here in Southern Illinois....and I have many foxes out where we live...mostly those who live out here in the woods are careful...but many are not.
The one thing I really hate is when I see box turtles smashed on the road. They only cross in the morning hours to sun...and they are so easy to avoid...i think some hit them on purpose...and your poem and pic really get me...i think Foxes are the most beautiful animals that exist...
one night i came home late...got out of my car and heard the weirdest sound getting closer and closer to me...from down the road where it is pitch dark. I was freaking out a bit...as it got closer but just stood still....suddenly there it was...a female fox...passed not 5 feet from me...just flying and squealing...was told later that she was searching a mate...
what an experience that was!
Some around here hate deer because there so many accidents...i am very careful driving...and years ago i hit one....almost totaled the car...and yet...i still marvel at those creatures and love them.
thanks for this poem... needed to be said and shown.
j.

[Fay Slimm]

Your review containing personal experience honours my tribute to creatures killed on the road - a greater loss than any of us think these gifts are there for our protection now automation bedevils the highways - thank you for this valued input dear jacob - tis a country-wide problem here in the U.K.

[Rhayne]

This takes me back many years. I was eight months pregnant and on my way to a doctor's appointment. The route I had to take happened to be Bragg Blvd in Fayetteville, NC. It's a six lane highway busy as hell. That particular day, someone had hit a dog and left it. As I approached, he lifted his head and fell back again. He couldn't get up. Without thinking of the danger I was putting myself in, I stopped in the middle of the road, threw up my hands to stop the traffic and picked up that poor dog and put him in my car. I missed my appointment and took him to the vet. He had a concussion and broken front legs. I put out notifications and pictures of him and no one claimed him. He was a beautiful young Shephard. We kept him, named him Bumper. That same day, a few miles down that same boulevard, another dog lay dead on the side of the road. I wish I could've saved him too, but one person can't do it all. If more people, the people who need to, would read your poem, maybe, just maybe, it would open their heart a little wider than their eyes.

[Fay Slimm]

My previous comment Rhayne about your personal experience with finding and helping a needy dog I am afraid got lost in a site-error but just had to return and repeat how wonderful people like your dear self in stopping traffic to rescue Bumper just made my day - there is much more care needed on roads.

[Gee]

The roads in Milton Keynes are littered with dead badgers and foxes...takes a caring heart to think about what they may have left behind.
Good morning

[Fay Slimm]

Hello Gee, and thank you for your in-put to this needed exposure of thoughtless drivers.....uncaring attitudes toward animal life needs to be given the right attention before lost are the gifts of other life on this beautiful earth........ I appreciate your valued review.

[Gee]

My pleasure

[Chris Shaw]

You echo my feelings about uncaring motorists. I live half a mile from a network of country lanes and I see this all the time. It really impacts heavily on me as a lover of the natural environment. I love all animals and it hurts like hell to come across this type of scene. I have lost count of badgers and deer I have seen that have ended up as road kill. You have conveyed this so well Fay. I am really enjoying the nature poems of yours I have read so far. Beautiful work expressed with much empathy.

Chris

[Fay Slimm]

My grateful thanks for your thoughts on the subject of unthinking road-kill today Chris - this thoughtless behaviour sears caring hearts - - I really appreciate your in-put and thank you most kindly .......

[Lorry]

Really like the force your words lead us into actually thinking of the uproar it would cause if it were human mothers and babies being trampled by these incomprehensible dragons. We are the intruders in their world and I can only guess as to what their opinions of us is.
A very fine perspective taken on this one Fay. Makes us think of what we do to other life on this damned planet. We will be the dinosaurs one day, wondering "is that an asteroi......" 😀

[Fay Slimm]

My thanks to you Lorry for your thoughtful input to this cry in the wilderness on behalf of all other life on this beautiful planet - -- the abuse of its rights should not go unnoticed when numbers are dwindling year after year. It does indeed make us think of their dire plight in this thoughtlessly styled me-first generation.