Our resident bard, Gillian Southgate has once again triumphed in The Oldie's poetry competition but rather than relive that triumph on the blog she wishes to spread her stylistic wings with this offering:-  

ANIMALS AT PRAYER

 

 

At the service for pets, a boy brought in a gerbil,

Confused, but trusting, in its tiny cage. A woman led a lurcher,

Slender on its length of lead, the meek eyes lowered in humility.

A tabby cat, unsure, uncomfortable, stared out from a basket

With widened eyes, and only once gave out a tiny mew.

It was as if they knew why they were there, but just like us

Had other matters to distract them. The gerbil stood up suddenly,

Glancing about him with an urgent air, and the small boy

Bent to calm him. The lurcher stretched his paws, 

Smooth limbed, heraldic, motionless; the tabby swung her gaze

When to her line of vision a rabbit was presented, big flat feet

Resting on its owners arm, its head against his shoulder.

And so each one was blessed, and each, uncomprehending,

Was carried out of church. The rector, spotting a beetle

Which unremarked, had crossed the old stone floor,

Looked gravely down, and blessed it on its journey.

And as they left, the spider hanging thirty feet above them

Praised the morning sun that warmed his chamber,

And stepped into a mortar crack above a stained glass window.