DIVE-BOMBING

Looking up at one of those big posh houses
along a road off Palmeston Road
just down from St Jude's church

A heron atop a roof
what in god's name is a heron doing
atop a roof
in Southsea?
unheard of

pretty creature
curves and slenderness
poise and pertness

What happened next
was not expected

A seagull swooped,
clearly attacking the marooned heron
then another seagull
then another

Squawking threats coming
from their uncultured beaks
lining up like bombers over Dresden
wave after wave
claws showing
they plunged

closer and closer
to within a few feet

the heron raised its leg
retracted its mighty startled beak
let loose a plaintive cry

a lull
and then the dive-bombers were at it again

I couldn't hang around all day
I watched for ten minutes
I could hardly climb on the roof
and rescue the heron
and I didn't have my mobile
so the quandary of ringing the
Royal Society for the Prevention of Misfortune to Birds
did not arise

Still
I wonder how it all ended
and I wonder
why the gulls were having a go at the heron

had it said something out of line?
did  it smell wrong?
or was it simply in the wrong place at the wrong time?

I will never know
the answer to any of these questions