Sonnet
We saw two hedgehogs
We saw two hedgehogs feeding side by side
And it wouldn't be our fault if they died.
They had been grunting through the summer night.
Safe from traffic - we thought they'd be all right -
In an island garden bordered by woods.
Every evening we gave them special food
In a plastic box wasted and surplus.
They went straight there the first night with no fuss.
Though far too nervous to come out in light:
This their entrench'd anthropogenic plight.
Now mangling their nightly excursions are
(New dreads but) most of all the motor car.
And remember bonfires roast them alive,
As one did a guy on November Five.
© R M Meyer
Winswell Water, 12 October 2018
