The Warren at Mapledurham

At night the grass verges
                 leading up to the clubhouse
are littered with white rabbits
                 Caught in the car headlights
their bodies glow with innocence
                 and those that are playing
continue to play
                 and those that are sitting
shooting the breeze
                 watching the world go by
continue to sit
                 unperturbed
by the motorized human traffic

Beyond the hedge is the golf course
                 and the rabbits continually pass
back and forth
                 Who knows what goes
through their minds
                 in the course of an evening
when they have the run
                 of the eighteen mysterious holes
the eighteen holes
                 down which not a single
rabbit is slim enough to fit
                 The foibles of humanity
they think – or perhaps not
                 perhaps they think nothing at all
and take the world as they find it
                 placid laid-back fluffy creatures
beloved of children and without
                 a single axe to grind

John Lyons