Shrill and astonishing the shrew

Dashes through the early dew.

 

He’s a famine on four feet:

‘Something to eat! Something to eat!’

 

His scream is thinner than a pin

And hurts your ear when it goes in.

 

And when he meets another shrew

He doesn’t rear on hinder toes

 

And nose to tender, waggling nose

Gently ask: ‘How do you do?’

 

He draws a single, furious breath

And fights the other to the death.

 

 

from the collection ‘The Cat and the Cuckoo’