The local 'Balancing Pond that buffers the various tributaries feeding the Blackwater River, is a haven for varieties of water fowl. Resident or sojourning there you can see: mute swans, raucous Canada geese (these North Americans!) mallards, coots, moorhens, gulls, little egrets, a solitary heron etc. AND a pair of Egyptian Geese, not native to England but no doubt descendants of a few, introduced to a stately park for decoration, but since gone feral. They have been in residence on the pond for many seasons now. This last couple have a touching devotion to each other, but have what seems to be a puzzled, if not bewildered demeanour as if to say: "where are we? what are we doing here? This sonnet is for them. ******************************************** Sonnet for a Pair of Egyptian Geese Across icy pond through chilly misty haze Bewildered but yet with a stoical bearing This couple, never parted, wistfully gaze Can this be the exotic land forebears had their dwelling? Atavistic dreams where great river and desert meet And arid sand is transformed to verdant garden There dhows of timeless design skim neath silken sheet While Sphinx looks on with inscrutable visage spartan But when Spring warms air and water and this land is greening Will they be reassured, that there is no need to roam When all winged life is fluttering, dancing and preening See these waters as not alien but truly their home Irony and pun prompt the poet to write with wry smile 'Our dear feathered couple live blissfully - in denial'