How To Spend A Birthday
First find the ducks, and get them in a row
Then walk the line, look each one in the eye
Dismiss the distended and mildewed ones
Locate a good supply of water, and herd them
Towards their birthdays and listen to their joy
Give them some pork crackling as they emerge
Shaking feathers and preening (they are proud)
And by now they're following you everywhere
Little souls, their shit and feathers on the carpet
Into your library, the kitchen, even to the bedroom
Where of course you find them tonight, in autumn
In half a dream of water and half a dream of flight
How you toss and turn in how to spend a birthday
But it's good to have ducks, they are simple creatures
And nothing bothers them as long as you stay happy
And who studies mortality today sighs in pleasure.
© 2014 Rob Schackne
Drawing by Michael Leunig
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