Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

29:
Our mutual delights were soon interrupted
by dulcet chirpings from the bush,
& we quietly observed a flock of quail
feeding up to itself in the undergrowth.
Sweet Nature sighed to herself, wishing that
we had the nets & blunderbusses with us
for a good hunt.
‘Let’s go & get the others’ I suggested
‘& I’ll race you back to the Gazebos.’
So, we belted back to find the others.

30:
The main Gazebo was timeless as ever, Wisdom
looking bored shitless while Divine Mercy
was rambling on about something or other.
The drone choir was asleep in the sun, &
the other Virtues nibbling on bits of meat
left over from lunch.
Sweet Nature outran me, & startled Wisdom
out of her slumber by her sudden entrance.
‘Sound a high drone, & scatter about
as much incense as you can. We’ve found some
Quail in the woods!’

31:
There were whoops of joy & dulcet sighs
from everybody, & we all went to get the blunderbusses.
Sweet Nature found me a particularly good one,
about five feet long with a silver barrel.
Fast badly she led the others back to the Quail,
while myself & Wisdom helped Courage along
on his stick, carrying his gun for him.

32:
Soon, the plan of attack was decided.
The Quails’ position being reported to Divine Mercy,
she had them surrounded, & those members of
the Drone choir that were present held the
nets & the whippets in readiness.

33: 
Divine Mercy waited until the breeze dropped,
then gave the signal to begin firing.
At once, we all fired & reloaded, making a
tremendous din & stench of gunpowder. The
nets were thrown into the air, & the whippets
released from their golden collars to pick up the birds.

34: 
For about an hour the firing went on, until there
was no sign of any wildlife anywhere. I might say
that these set hunts were very inefficient, & seldom
succeeded in catching anything. What quail were caught
usually died of shock from the noise (about two a year.)

35:
Nevertheless it was sweet fun to make such a noise,
& stirring to brave hearts to see so many whippets
running about. All the birds were long since flew,
so after a while we packed up the guns & took everything back.
The catch was nil but all the same the Virtues
were in good humour again, singing sweetly iambic
songs on the walk back. Wisdom & Sweet Nature knew
all the verses, & the rest of us sang the refrains.
Afterwards, Sweet Nature & myself repaired to a
quiet Gazebo to enjoy a pot of tea & a good hard poke.