The Night Worker

Unnatural nature is no fable

See me on the streets at night

and you’ll be lucky.

Shy, cautious diving into dustbins.

And skips.

Kitchen windows,

wasteful restaurants.

Always a meal there.

A supermarket bonanza,

if I can get under the fence

I do my work providing

when you are sleeping.

A fleeting silhouette

you can never catch.

Sleeping in secret

five feet from your house.

A home in tiny places

where nobody suspects.

I’m rich in comparison

to my country cousins.

Safe from guns and hounds

Not trapped and poison,

I am loved.

I may have lost the will to hunt.

Changed

Moved on.

Advanced.

Evolved.

No chicken runs for me.

I am accepted.

This secretive shadow

doesn’t scavenge.

I recycle your waste

and bring new life to your cities

You will recognise me.

Know my shape.

Know my name.

Reynard-of-the-city.

The urban Fox.