I remember

When you were an egg

I sat on you for weeks.

Then a fluffy brown chick emerged.

You were a handful,

with your siblings.

Sampling duck weed,

Chasing stickleback,

Bobbing up and down

While pike examined

your feet.

You could have been snapped up

By a fox or a stray dog.

But you grew

And grew

Fed by people

as well as your parents.

Your down is disappearing,

Soon you will be serene

White feathers sailing

Over the lake…..