Ferrets
Some weeks ago on Platform 3
at Lewisham station
a working class man
with a working class ferret
on a harnessed lead
waiting for a train
to Charing Cross
and when the train arrived
the ferret tugged restlessly at the lead
eager to be the first to board
I wondered what business
the ferret had at Charing Cross
though it was none of my business
though let it be said
if anyone is interested
that the word for a group
of ferrets is a business
Male ferrets are called hobs
but all the girls are known as jills
and the babes as kits
Though ferrets can sleep
for anything up to eighteen hours
a day
you wouldn’t believe it
while they’re awake
because they’re never still
the pests !
Ferrets have been employed
to lay wires
or as racers in rural fairs
but the main use of ferrets
has always been hunting :
with their long lean bodies
and inquisitive nature
these mammals
are very well equipped
for getting down holes
or chasing rodents
rabbits and moles
out of their burrows
And like the rest of us
ferrets are composed
of one hundred percent dust
God bless ’em !
John Lyons
For the inspiration behind the poem’s final stanza, see Emily Dickinson: “This quiet dust was gentlemen and ladies / And lads and girls,” and also the final stanza of “The Color of the Grave is Green”.
