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.
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