Incredible Poem by Ex-Hunter

[Guest guest]

Incredible Poem by Ex-Hunter

 

 

From pp. 283-284 of the 1976 book Beautiful Swimmers

by William Warner:

 

[Lem Ward] took to handing out copies of a poem called

Remorse by a friend [unnamed] of his who had watched a

pair of Canada geese die in mutual embrace:

 

 

 

A hunter shot at a flock of geese

That flew within his reach.

Two were stopped in their rapid flight

And fell on the sandy beach.

The male bird lay at the water's edge

And just before he died

He faintly called to his wounded mate

And she dragged herself to his side.

She bent her head and crooned to him

In a way distressed and wild

Caressing her one and only mate

As a mother would a child.

Then covering him with her broken wing

And gasping with failing breath

She laid her head against his breast,

A feeble honk ... then death.

This story is true, though crudely told.

I was the man in the case.

I stood knee deep in the drizzle and cold

And the hot tears burned my face.

I buried the birds in the sand where they lay,

Wrapped in my hunting coat,

And I threw my gun and belt in the Bay

When I crossed in the open boat.

Hunters will call me a right poor sport

And scoff at the thing I did;

But that day something broke in my heart,

And shoot again? God forbid!