Forget the flowers that bloom in the spring—tra la. There’s another harbinger of the season: mallards. Amanda Slattery captured their return to our area, which reminded her of a poem from her English childhood, written by Kenneth Grahame of Wind and the Willows fame.
First the poetry:
Ducks’ Ditty
All along the backwater,
Through the rushes tall,
Ducks are a-dabbling,
Up tails all!
Ducks’ tails, drakes’ tails,
Yellow feet a-quiver,
Yellow bills all out of sight
Busy in the river!
Slushy green undergrowth
Where the roach swim—
Here we keep our larder,
Cool and full and dim.
Everyone for what he likes!
We like to be
Heads down, tails up,
Dabbling free!
High in the blue above
Swifts whirl and call—
We are down a-dabbling
Up tails all!
And, now, ducks of the coming spring:
All this discussion of ducks reminds us of a poem by Ogden Nash from our American childhood:
The Duck
Behold the duck.
It does not cluck.
A cluck it lacks.
It quacks.
It is specially fond
Of a puddle or pond.
When it dines or sups,
It bottoms ups.