Birdwatching At Derwent Ings

The Whooper swans were there
but never whooped
(It's not the season)
Too distant to be named
geese wavered in skeins
like smoke across the sky,
and by the time
I'd turned binoculars
on Golden Eye, they'd dived
leaving anonymous rings

Who cares?
A swan of any kind
is godlike:
honking geese
Icelandic Sagas:
and spreading water rings
faultless caligraphy


© The Estate of Dorothy Cowlin 2002–2021. All rights reserved.

Derwent Ings is a Site of Special Scientific Interest divided between North Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire

This poem is known to have appeared in the following publication:

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