Bread and Circuses

Chapter 83: THE JAPANESE DUCKLING

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About This Book

A lyrical collection of short poems ranges from quiet country scenes and childhood memories to urban sketches and religious reflections. The poet renders streams, gardens, market sellers, and domestic interiors in close sensory detail while pairing everyday observation with moral and spiritual meditation. Animal vignettes and playful pieces for children sit alongside elegies, prayers, and ironic portraits of modern life, producing tones of humour, tenderness, and solemnity. Varied forms and concise portraits move between pastoral lanes, London streets, and intimate household moments while attending to time, sorrow, and faith.

THE JAPANESE DUCKLING

The shop-girl in my fingers laid The Yellow Duckling, Mother paid A silver coin to set him free And so he came to live with me.

I kissed his baby feathers sweet, His callow bill and parchment feet; And so his love for me began— My Yellow Duckling from Japan.

And he forgot his native nest, Forgot the way his plumy breast Parted the waters as they ran Amid strange weeds in far Japan.

And he forgot the yellow child Whose narrow eye-lids on him smiled:— I kissed him, and he settled down To live with me in London town.