By Mike Bell

Once, a Raven came, the Old One

His Carboniferous spell broken a second later

By the jealous Hoody gang

And once, in far off boyhood times

A Wood White danced in dappled shade in Tring Park.

The first seen in the county since the War

Once I gave my heart to a terrier to tear

Fierce, burning oh so brightly

He learned me of Love and Loss

And then once, once for Mum and once for Dad

I stood up in a Somerset village church

And spoke of life’s thread that endures

Once, on a Kodiak wilderness trail

I did not meet the great bear

Though he was there

But once, oh once and forever!

Love came and roused my hibernating soul

Not a tame bear.  Each day a wild discovery

Now, once.

McB

February 2019