Crex Crex Poem by Mary Champion

Hid within the dampened grass
and all among the barley,
you'd often hear the rasping call
that broke the silence harshly.

A sound once heard in ev'ry vale
to herald spring's arrival,
long vanished now to distant isles
and fighting for survival.

A small brown bird, whose chestnut wings
have borne it north for summer,
once laid its eggs amongst the corn -
its legions hard to number.

But when the mower mechanised
its fierce blades gave no quarter.
They could not flee its swift advance
could not avoid the slaughter.

The 'clam'rin craik', the ‘noisy one'
who haunted every hayfield,
the brown streaked rail is banished now
to maximise our grain-yield.