A Natural Death

A Natural Death

She took the young rabbit with stealth.

Her keen eye,

acute sense of smell,

agility and in-bred hunters heart

allowed her to patiently

stalk it as it ventured

cautiously from its burrow

to bask in the spring sunshine.

She pounced with precision,

her needle sharp claws securing her prey

as she took it in her jaws,

impaling it between deadly fangs.

She carried the shocked creature home,

only just alive.

I heard the inordinate clatter of the cat flap

as she pushed it through

and instantly knew she had a victim to display.

Leaping from my hunched position

over the key board,

I bounded into the hall,

shutting the lounge door behind me

in order to restrict the zone of carnage.

Opening the front door I shooed Coco out,

the sorry animal still clamped fast in her feline mouth.

On the path, and much to her dislike,

I forced her to release it,

carefully picked it up

and cradled its delicate, wounded form in my hands.

It's innocence and lack of purpose both struck me

as I carried it, stunned and afraid, down to the field.

There I carefully placed it upon safe ground

hoping it would regain its strength, cast off its fright,

and take to the relative safety of the hedgerow.

But its broken and mangled front paw

told me of a different fate.

The rock was weighty in one hand

but its arc was true and certain.

 

13/04/16