THIS life-enhancing moral from mallards comes from Frisky Ducks and Other Poems by Mario Relich (Grace Note Publications, £7.50).

Edinburgh-based Dr Relich is of Croatian and Italian parentage, grew up in Canada, and works for the Open University.

A FLEET OF MALLARDS

Under the bridge

I spied some mallards,

preparing to land,

with some already

splashing about,

while on the other side

of the canal bank

I glimpsed this graffiti

warning: THE WORLD

OWES YOU NOTHING.

But watching closely

these blue-streaked

drakes having

a raucous time, fit

and ready to pursue

and fight over females,

amused and on alert

for them, that's one

way of shrugging off

an indifferent world.