Puffins

PUFFINS

Fizz, whizz, wings a blur

like tiny helicopter blades,

so busy, intent, skimming the waves,

a wriggle, a glint in their beaks.

Sea parrot, clown of the sea,

so comical and sad with red and yellow beak

all flattened and squashed,

smart in a tuxedo with bright orange legs

Fizz whizz, wings a blur,

a puffin shoots out of his burrow

as if from a cannon,

the whole sky his tent top.

Fizz whizz, wings a blur,

diving for sand-eels.

Imagine:  sixty-two  in one beak,

packed head to tail like sardines.

Harr, harr comes a throaty cackle

from deep in their burrows.

They make me laugh.  How sad

if there were no more puffins.