Read in full the submission of our Creative Writing Competition runner-up, Kitty Harrison.
Through her longing for the return of wagtails, Kitty Harrison’s piece explores how personal grief entangles with environmental despair, yet leaves space for hope of a better tomorrow.
You can read the winners announcement here, as well as a full list of all submissions published.
Will there be Wagtails
by Kitty Harrison
"Her message- life goes on. Some are lost and some remain. But we can tend to ours, give the best chance to survive, to return another year. That year was last year. I made it through Will she?"
Will there be wagtails
I step outside,
feel the air
caress my cheek,
like he used to.
Feel the ragged edge
of the bench we bought together,
slat he broke and swore to fix.
Just like me.
Never did;
now never will.
Wanted to replace the bench
but I want this one,
even damaged,
worthy of love.
Should have seen it coming-
he’d move to Mars,
terraform it,
replace this home.
No loyalty.
No staying power.
We’ve damaged this earth,
time to move on.
Pastures new-
What of the old?
Relegated to the landfill of life?
I want the wagtails to return
here on my home planet.
Not to Mars.
Not a new species,
Not the cockroach of the avian world
built to withstand the change
wrought by the blind unthinking hands of men
I want my wagtails
I want to see them come again
like that year when,
while licking my wounds,
one bobbed jauntily, cheekily,
on the newly laid turf in my new garden,
fresh and unformed,
like my new life.
Beds to make and fill,
like my space and time
without him.
Her message-
life goes on.
Some are lost and some remain.
But we can tend to ours,
give the best chance to survive, to return another year.
That year was last year.
I made it through
Will she?
