LET US PREY .

[Maureen K Clifford]

LET US PREY ... Maureen Clifford © The #ScribblyBark Poet


Beneath an Autumn sky
by the ashes of the snow gums
the orphans waited
on a green short cropped island
surrounded by black.

There would be no dancing in the rain for them.
They faced a lonely walk
with no Mothers to guide them,
no male to protect them,
no feed to nurture them.

In plain sight they stood
trembling and disorientated.
Their deep chestnut coats were singed.
There was fear in their eyes,
moisture dripped from their coats.

They had run for miles
in an effort to outpace the red dragon.
Their sweat mixed with the dragons breath
and foamed in amber beads on trembling flanks.

A single shot rang out , then another and another,
the reverberations echoed and re echoed around the valley.
The first one hit the floor - legs twitching
in a paroxysm of death
and in the distance - the call of the stallion
sounded their eulogy.

[Shelley Hansen]

Wow, Maureen - this is a really powerful piece - so dark. I wish it were not true, but of course, it is.

Cheers
Shelley

[Maureen K Clifford]

Sorry Shelley - only just noticed your response here. Sadly it is all too true and still ongoing with our Snowy Mountain mob the latest targets - some have already hit the saleyards, a few of them have been bought by private buyers some rescue groups , mine included, have taken what they could afford to save - and the rest - well enough to say the doggers had a field day

The latest ruse, nothing new really, is to release a radio collared Judas mare in the area the brumbies inhabit - she leads the killers/cullers straight to the mob, and is then re-released when the trucks full of horses have gone to do the same thing again. It is not her fault, they are herd animals and one on its own is very vulnerable so of course she is seeking out company.