Pondering Cruelty

Male mallard
once procuring
offspring, abandons

Female, charged with care
becomes a target, often
killed by next mate

I contemplate the orphans
the cruelty rendered
what purpose struggle serves.

(Tuesdays I borrow from Twitter @Vjknutson. Image my own.)

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VJ

Permission to write, paint, and imagine are the gifts I gave myself when chronic illness hit - a fair exchange: being for doing. Relevance is an attitude. Humour essential.

13 thoughts on “Pondering Cruelty”

  2. Lovely photo first of all. This poem reminds me of a small family of wood ducks in the park by our house. The mom had a broken wing and an injured leg and three babies when we first saw them. She tried to keep them safe. We called the water fowl rescue people but they couldn’t do anything because the ducks were on an island in the middle of a small lake where no boats are allowed. The rescuer said that even with permission that she’d scare the ducks so much that they would have heart attacks (apparently wood ducks are very sensitive and fearful). It was sad. I don’t think the ducklings survived. I have never seen a male wood duck with his brood. But the mallards and the Canada geese always seem to stay in family groups. At least that’s been my observation.

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    1. I thought so too until a mallard couple set up their nest near our house. Once the eggs hatched a slew of male mallards showed up so I researched it and thus the poem. We also witness and mother and her babies being aggressively chased by a male.

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  4. Nature an be very harsh sometimes. There is a little squirrel that comes to get seeds that have fallen from our birdfeeder. He has a big hop and for some reason he does not quite move in a normal way. But there is a grey squirrel who defends him If any other squirrels turn up while he is feeding she chases them off. He is black and she is grey so I’m not sure if she could be his mother. I am always glad to see he is eating well. But we have very cold winters here and I am worried about him.

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