Terry Hartery

Terry Hartery Poems

The Best Poem Of Terry Hartery

A Pointless Death

We walked along the Fife Coastal Path
from Inverkeithing to St David’s Harbour.
It was cloudy, warm,
almost sultry.
Out on the Forth, two tugboats
raced towards the Forth Rail Bridge,
or so it seemed.
I took photos of grass
the colour of burnished gold.

Suddenly a brown and white spaniel
raced down into the water.
Two grey/brown gulls, startled,
flapped into the air but
one not fast enough.
There was a brief struggle,
a snapping noise
and it was over.
Two small boys shouted
‘It’s dead’.

The dog’s owner,
solid, with cropped hair,
saw our distress.
‘That was horrible’ said my wife.
‘You can’t blame the dog,
it’s in its nature’ he replied

Further along the path my wife turned.
‘At least I said something’.
‘Yes’ I said ‘Well done’
and felt bad.
But up to that point
my only concerns were with f-stops,
exposures and camera speed.
I didn’t expect sudden death.
Also, I realised I had no position
on what had occurred.

On the way home
one emerged.
‘It’s the dog’s nature,
you can’t blame the dog’.
Yes, but you could have
controlled it.
‘But I didn’t know
it was going to happen’.
No? , but then why keep as pets
animals that kill?

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