Not bonkers to fly away to Magaluf
On a crisp September morning, Percy peered out of his nest. He felt the season calling. Yes, he felt it in his breast.
He knew that he was different. He had known it from a squab. He was not a normal pigeon. He could feel his heartbeat throb.
His brothers and his sisters Had long fluttered from the fold. He missed their fluffy presence. But he held to dreams foretold.
From slumbers he remembered Mighty wings and arrowed skeins. And he’d known he was a gosling. Goose blood rampaged through his veins.
He had tried to tell his family. They agreed that he was bonkers. But fate had come approaching And he heard the distant honkers.
The sky was blue and cloudless And the print of Moon prevailed, When into Percy’s vision One lone goose, majestic, sailed.
No time to pack possessions.
They would only think him soft. He took a massive breath And then he heaved himself aloft.
He went up like a rocket, And was suddenly surrounded By a broad phalanx of bodies, And poor Percy was nearly grounded.
They shot directly past him, In formation, like a kite. And he madly flapped his wings Until they disappeared from sight.
But from noises right behind him He knew there were more to come.
Then the leader of the chevron shape Collided with his bum.
There was a short kerfuffle, It was quite a messy thing. Then they realised what was happening And took him under wing.
They said: ‘We are Canadians, But now we’re national Brits. But while the summer suits us, Winter cold is just the pits. ‘Last year we lost poor Lucy. And that was the final proof. Now we’re seasonally migrating. We are off to Magaluf.’
Percy’s wings were getting knackered. He could not keep up the beat. So they tucked him in a thermal, Like a BA business seat.
After many hours of flying Squadron leader pulled the brake And in drifts through clouds they landed On a Balearic lake. ‘You can keep your cold, old Britain,’ Percy cooed contentedly As he sipped his margarita, As the sun sank in the sea.
Ruth Twyman Lockyer,
Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.