The Dead Starling Poem by Francis Duggan

With his large flock of friends he will never more sing
The starling dead by the roadway has seen his last Spring
The blow fly maggots eating his flesh away
And around where he lay is the stench of decay.

Perhaps by a truck or a motor car he was struck down
By a motorist who was speeding into Town
And since large flocks of starlings to be seen every day
Good riddance to him then some even might say.

And though starlings like all of us are born to die
They have a right to their lives just as much as I
Us humans do more damage to the environment than any creature of land, sea or air
Of all creatures we seem the least environmentally aware.

On the trees by the road he will never sing again
With his large flock in the sun, wind or rain
Across the roadway perhaps too low he did fly
And he made contact with a car or a truck passing by.