NATURAL REALITY

by John Yeo

The overwhelming human presence

Floods the natural, wild presence,

Bringing an uneven, unnaturally balance.

~

These words reflect the sad, sad story

Of the unacceptable pain and agony

Of a harsh concrete experience.

~

Noise and fumes form a barrier until

Beautiful wildlife becomes roadkill—

Just a bloody heap of furry essence.

©️ All rights reserved.

  Today, I walked around a busy area surrounding Studley Garden Centre in Warwickshire. I spotted a live robin hopping around in the building as I left. I guess it had entered through the open doors and was busy exploring this new, interesting environment.

I walked across the car park towards a pedestrian exit, where I saw a sad pile of feathers on the ground, which was the remains of a wood pigeon. This poor bird had been either run down by a car or killed by a predator.

I left the garden centre and began to walk along a busy main road full of noisy cars and lorries. I passed the ‘Harvester’ restaurant in Redditch, set in a green area of woods. A lone crow was pecking around on a nearby field. I continued along the Birmingham Road past some large, impressive houses with beautiful grounds and gardens.

One of the gardens was next to an interesting area in the bordering woods with a large, marshy, water-filled area full of rampant reeds and weeds. Sadly, I was unable to get into this area as it was a gated, private property. A solitary magpie was hopping around on the grass.

I crossed over to a public footpath on the opposite side of the road, where I spoke to a man walking a cross-bred, chocolate-coloured Labrador. I walked along the pathway in some dense woods before turning back and making my way back to Studley Garden Centre.

A black cat was lazily prowling around the garden, and a couple of the customers had brought along three tiny toy dogs.

Today, I walked for 2.44 miles in 54 minutes.

Google Fit awarded me 27 heart points.