Above the place where the sea
hits the bay with extra violence
churning and bellowing to move
the immovable
on tall cliffs proud and honourable
ancient enduring
I kneeled
watching
birds in abandoned immodesty
flaunting their wares like
whores at a window
singing their operas
with arrogant ease
swooping and dipping
into that shabby valley
patched with bracken.
Trudging on....
I discovered by accident
the six eggs
wrapped in that warm nest
disturbing the dreams of their forlorn mother
with my clumsy gargantuan feet.
Oh how she tried to drag me away
trick me with injured wing
feigning hopeless helplessness
but the callousness of this child
knew no bounds- I had seen
those ice-blue eggs
and told to buy a friend.

Next day I stared in pain
at the empty nest
a deserted home- stripped bare
to make trophies for children.
The almost babies
pricked at each end with a savage
pin thrust- their bodies
blown out
and dripping on nearby ferns.

Six
ice-blue eggs
now hollow
smothered in sawdust
in a pale white box.