Windhover
Aloof, unnoticed, silent, still as death
You hover, as fleets of traffic pass;
Below, unshielded, voles and mice hold breath
And fear, awaiting deadly daggered grasp.
Alert, unarmoured avian bazooka,
You survey, feathered sinewed steel
Bedecked, unbending softness, yet crueller
And choose, radarless, to go in for the kill.
Aloft, unrotored, when wing engines cut;
You plummet, scenting rodent blood,
Beneath, unprepared sinks victim’s gut
And pounce, pinioned, in seizing, silent thud.
Adept, untutored carrion thieves between
You despise: crows steal as wastrels.
Bespoke, unmechanised killing machine
And named, windhover verge-chief falcon: kestrel.
Harry O'Neill
Fri 7th Mar 2014 13:27
This essay at looking at the Kestrel in a part
mechanical way is interesting.
I`m not a great admirer of half rhymes, but those in stanza two do seem to prepare us (sonicaly) a little for the short, `cut` `blood` `gut` and thud in the following moment of truth stanza.
That `deadly daggered grasp` says it as it is, as does the `plummet` (which better suggests an intending drop.
That `Bespoke` suggests a non evolutionary,
`fit for purpose` deliberate design.
The `bazooka` too much separates the aimed from the aimer to fit this.
Good though.