The River Rats

By the rivers embankment the river rats awaken
Arid and parched they congregate

Their colourless charcoaled frames smudge and blend into the grubbing landscape.

Dank and filthy they sit by the bulrushes
in quiet desideratum drinking from cracked vessels through broken teeth

Their pallor mortis coloured skin gives them a corpselike appearance

From a distance they resemble the discarded
waste fly tipped along the roadside

Sheltered by the Alder trees a Water Vole nibbles on a  horsetail
A River rat sings a lullaby
Accompanying him is a Riverside warbler
singing along in harmony

The river Rat finishes singing
He lies his Moribund Body on a grassy mound
He closes his eyes for the last time


On a nearby sandy shore the washed
up flotsam and jetsam is getting its daily
costal clean up

By the riverside unwanted human detritus
is being cleared away along with a dead river rat no one will know even existed
Unwanted
Human detritus