Monday, January 08, 2007

A Small Life

Big Al is gone!

Way gone after a rainy dark night on the pond; leaving not a
feather, drop of blood, or final squalk, that I heard, to mark his demise.
Having broken through, for too short a time, the veil of consciousness to
present us with his beauty.
I am grateful for the knowing.

12 comments:

  1. Beautiful Post.
    Why the title as 'a small life'?

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  2. Big Al was an absolutely beautiful duck. I am sorry he is gone, Goatman.

    You wrote a lovely memorial to him!

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  3. I'm sorry about Big Al's demise. I've looked at your previous posts - he was a handsome duck. What happened to Sprig?

    Thanks for your visit today.

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  4. I forgot to ask - what kind of engineer? I was metallurgical - in aerospace for 10 years.

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  5. Sprig and her sister small girl are alive and well in their fenced pen near and extending slightly into the pond; where I should have left the three in the first place. Funny thing happened last week though: a male mallard looking just like Big Al flew onto the pond and seemed to be eyeing the duck pen from a distance. I doubt if it was Al but it sure was a nice surprise. These rouen ducks are domesticated mallards and,at least in my view, can only fly a few meters. So if Al did fly off, it would have been a throwback to distant behaviour.

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  6. Oh, Goatman, I'm really sorry to hear of Big Al disappearing on you! If there's no signs of struggle, there's maybe hope... I'll keep my fingers crossed!

    And, maybe in the meantime, your new mallard friend will join the party!

    Big hug, Goatman.

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  7. p.s. anyone who also appreciates the movie Magnolia is definitely a friend of mine... (I play Aimee Mann's 'Save Me' all the time...)

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  8. maybe he'll be back. So sorry to hear.

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  9. Here's to Big Al! Don't know where he is, but hope he's doing well.

    My step-mother and step-grandmother like to keep a close eye on some local ponds, at which are quite a few ducks and geese. It amazes me, but they can tell them apart from each other. I guess when you watch them long enough you are able to do that.

    There is a sign by the ponds that says, "Do not feed the ducks," but they sneak by in their cars and feed them anyway. :)

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  10. sorry about big al's disappearance... but the mallard souds like good news

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  11. I'm sorry to know it, Goatman.

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