Gaggle of Geese

I fed the ducks today.

The little brown hens
The drakes with their royal green crowns
Their kingdom is a mucky pool of polluted water
And the large geese with their white puffy chests that seem to dominate them all

Those large ugly geese
With their overstuffed bodies
Biting and honking
Butting their way through
The crowds of small peaceful ducks
Like buffoons

Pushing and nipping
They take crumbs from the ducks
Small morsels too insignificant to even swallow
But they want them all

From the my hands they snatch the slices
Large chunks too big to chew
Greedy geese that steal from the very hands that feed them
Ungrateful buffoons

Huge chunks
Hidden in their jaws
Too large for them to swallow
But they hold tight
Every crumb safe in their beak
Selfish geese

Honking fools
They can’t eat their bitter prizes
And holding tight
Retreat into the bushes

The ducks
Amongst themselves
Search the gravel for tiny crumbs
Droppings of the wealth
That had been there so recently

But the only evidence
Are the
Empty
Footprints

Epilogue:

The geese put down the bread
Pecking at their prizes

Through the brambles
A flock of hungry ducks break through

Honking and biting
The geese fight for what they stole
Scaring off a few
But a few brave birds persist
Hunger driving them wild

As a flock they take the bread
Biting and pushing the geese
And as a group they usurp the wealth
Leaving the geese
Without
A
crumb