Aloof, unnoticed, silent, still as death <br />You hover, as fleets of traffic pass; <br />Below, unshielded, voles and mice hold breath <br />And fear, awaiting deadly daggered grasp. <br /> <br />Alert, unarmoured avian bazooka, <br />You survey, feathered sinewed steel <br />Bedecked, unbending softness, yet crueller <br />And choose, radarless, to go in for the kill. <br /> <br />Aloft, unrotored, when wing engines cut; <br />You plummet, scenting rodent blood, <br />Beneath, unprepared sinks victim’s gut <br />And pounce, pinioned, in seizing, silent thud. <br /> <br />Adept, untutored carrion thieves between <br />You despise: crows steal as wastrels. <br />Bespoke, unmechanised killing machine <br />And named, windhover verge-chief falcon: kestrel.<br /><br />C Richard Miles<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/windhover/
