Grassy shimmers scurry across expectant land.
The guns walk out and take their stand.
Beaters move to flank the woods,
Ominous in their coats and hoods.
Darkly foreboding, echoing silence ran.
Clamour ceased at the approach of man.
As silence reigned no words were spoken.
A whistle blew, the spell was broken.
Wolfish voices whispered across emerald seas.
Sticks were tapping, tapping against the trees.
Keen noses sought the scent upon the ground.
Snapping jaws were all around.
Birds explode from cover and claw the air!
Dogs have found them hiding in their lair.
Bereft of hope and calling in their fear.
The sight of them brings forth a cheer.
Guns begin to bark and the dogs to whine.
Death is rattling, rattling all down the line.
As soulful feathers drift upon the breeze.
Spaniels scurry to the fallen among the trees.
Now the shoot is over and done,
Into the farmyard they pour with dog and gun.
As sloe gin is drunk and passed around
The keeper counts the bodies upon the ground.
He ties their necks together, in braces of cock and hen.
Then hands these lifeless trophies to those sporting men.