The Daily Inkling prompt is side effects, a supernatural meaning for a sharp pain.
Walking the meadow
dry clay
cracked from side to side
making islands of yellow flowers and pink,
and from the cracks
the scuffle of tiny rodent
claws and paws
curling in comfort one against the other.
Beneath the trees
where branches cover green and pale
in leaf
not quite enough
to hide new nests
and flitting coloured birds
the sound of springsong.
Why this jabbing pain
the ribs the soles of feet the head?
Each footstep treads
a death
the end of some brief spell
among the flowers
of the insect-creeping earth.
Creaking backs
spines ache when mowers strip
the cover
seeded heavy with food.
They fade
the coloured songsters
the vole and rabbit
quick brown fox.
Fewer nests eggs young fledglings
thinner
meagre fare.
Dearth fades
not the swift fall of the axe.
Pain pinches the heart
of those who see the failed nests
and regret there are so few swallows
this year.
Thank you. Sometimes that’s the way it comes out 🙂
Our attempts to reshape the environment have consequences most people never even give a passing thought to. (K)
And if they were asked to change their habits just a little so they could have the swallows and the songbirds, they wouldn’t.
So hard to understand.