ROOST

My chicken laid an egg today

I’ll eat it for my tea

I’m so grateful for my little hen

who lays her eggs for me.

At least, I always did assume

she laid it just for me,

I never really thought about

how my chicken feels.

She looked at me this morning

from her little roost,

and as I took her egg away

I thought I saw her droop.

But that could only be

my own imagination,

surely creatures never feel

the depths of our emotion?

I can’t allow myself to think

that she hung her head in sorrow,

as I took away her egg to eat –

or I’ll not eat one tomorrow.

copyright Roisin Duffy