Return of the swifts
They fly back in May, all the way from Africa, endangered of course. This government voted against mandatory swift boxes, so simple and cheap, in all new builds. Idiots.
Balanced on scythe wings, Sailing the updrafts, swifts Navigate currents only seen In movement of the trees - Defy Earth’s prisoning gravity That glues us to the ground, Lowers our bodies down to mate, Seats us to eat, sprawls us out to sleep. Each human foot's earthbound
One hundred types of swift Taxonomically are Apodidae, 'Footless' in Latin - Fancy free, they fly lifelong, Mate, eat, sleep aloft, Skim the pond’s meniscus, Snap floating gossamer for nests Glued with spit high up on houses. Swifts can't walk, but cling with tiny claws They hardly ever need, Except to nest and feed their young They zip along at 70 miles per hour. Their only rival in the speeding stakes, The peregrine, cheats by seizing gravity To stoop and slaughter Prey that never sees it plunge Swifts are a beau ideal, mate for life, Let offspring go without a fuss - Their beaks flossed with insects Snatched upon the wing, they find One day their chicks have slipped away. An empty nest is nothing to the swifts, They shrug, swallow, relaunch, And ride the sky again till spring. No stuffy cocktail gatherings for swifts, Socially as well they've got us beat With evening screaming parties, Where they tear the air with sound. How much better might we feel If we all came out at dusk and shrieked Together
ha I just pictured people en mass screaming together. very good