We maintain
The urbane
And are witty
In the city.
But those who hark
To the fox’s bark
In the suburban dark
Find the urbane
Hard to maintain
And their wit
Begins to slip.
(Note: the above poem appears in my collection “Leaving and Other Poems”, which is available in Kindle and paperback from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leaving-other-poems-Kevin-Morris/dp/B09R3HR9KG).
I heard foxes in the night
There screams of delight
Mingled with wild wind and rain
As I lay alone
Listening for the owl’s lonely cry.
After tea
And homemade cake,
And the crossword,
We heard,
Sitting in a London garden,
A wild, screeching sound.
“What was that?”, I said.
“A fox with it’s prey”.
Soon the screeching ceased
And our sunny day
Returned to peace.
A quick death
Is best.
And the dead
Read no romanticising poetry
Of death.
The below poem contains an expletive. I make no apology for this, as poetry should be honest:
“The foxes are fucking“, you said.
A vulgar thing to say,
But we where on our way
To bed.
And I,
Hearing their cry
Pondered on lust
And the vulgarity of you.
But what you said was true.
And we 2 could see
That oft in lust
We hide from dust.
I yawn
In the early morn.
A bark
Pierces the dark.
The carpet is warm
Against my bare
Feet. While out there
The fox’s word
Is heard
Ere I sleep.
I often find
The fox’s bark
Fills my mind.
How fast the light
Fades in woodland glades
And becomes the dark
Of suffocating night.
In the park
Where children play
His cold, sharp bark
Seems to say
You spend your day
In the sun
But the night
Blots out light
And your day
Is done.
(The final stanza is very long compared to the first 2 and I am not sure how the poem hangs together. Would welcome the views of my readers. Thanks. Kevin).
We maintain
The urbane
And are witty
In the city.
But those who hark
To the fox’s bark
In the suburban dark
Find the urbane
Hard to maintain
And their wit
Begins to slip
Safe in my place
I hear foxes bark
In the autumn dark.
In this semi-urban space
The foxes laugh and say
All this will pass away.
A cold, sharp bark
Pearces the dark,
Interrupting a thought
I really ought
Not to indulge in,
Of women
And sin.
In the city
Those who are witty
Say, in fun,
“Civilisation is done”.
Whilst, in the dark
A fox’s bark
Sounds near, and clear.
“Tell me, what do you see?
As you gaze at yonder tree
Where squirrels jump from branch to branch
And leaves in the late Autumn air dance?
On seeing the fox, who strolls through the garden as though he owns the place
Do you trace in his wild face,
your fellow canine? And does his sharp bark
That oft times pearces the dark
Find an answering echo within your loyal dog heart?
Watching the world pass
Through my window glass,
Tell me
What do you see
As you gaze beyond yonder tree?”
K Morris - Poet 