Sly? No, not sly, but aware - aware of every breath, each falling leaf, all sounds within the trees. The memory of a million moons, a hundred thousand quick lived lives, the panting panic of the chase - ten thousand times; some to win, others to fall and fail - a sound of stupid, clumsy, yelping dogs made bloody with his lives.He knows it all. You can see it in his eyes. Deep hidden like a diamond in the mine - clear, and sharp, and sharp enough to kill; they say he kills for fun - not fun, excitement, the excitement of the death, a repeated nightly ritual.
Excitement, ritual, but finally food - food to feed a family.
Rufus Redhead - prince of the wood, despoiler of dustbins, stealer of eggs, maimer of hens, a shadow in the night and gone at dawn. Wily? (most certainly). Old? (if he’s lucky), but as old as the hills in race and memory. Cruel? (sometimes), and quick?
As quick as a fox. But sly? No, not sly, aware.
The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.
Not sly, aware.
Many thanks to Neil Atkinson wildlife photographer of genius who took this incredible photograph and for allowing me to borrow it.
These's only one animal that kills for fun, or is cruel for fun, and it's not the fox.
ReplyDeleteNeil Atkinson commented on Facebook:
ReplyDeleteBloody marvellous Heighty! You should get some of this stuff published if you haven't already. Top drawer. Many thanks to you for adding sublime text to my image.
Andrew Height repied:
Neil - you deserve the thanks - great picture.
Fab photo! I have a soft spot for foxes. We had town foxes in our back garden in Kent and my mum fed them. One of them got scratched on the nose by our cat. We saw them up close once at night on the patio, they looked so scrawny.
ReplyDeleteWe get a fox in our garden. He tries to get in the bins.
ReplyDelete