One of the best perks of living in the English countryside
is the more unusual chances for pet care that so often arrive.
Each year, early in October, we chicken-sit next door’s hens,
releasing them, then chasing them back into their pen.
They waddle and squabble like living parodies,
but there’s nothing like warm, fresh-hatched eggs for free.
The house across the road is still up for sale,
I really want our new neighbours to have animals as well.
I saw a girl in jodhpurs looking round positively,
I’m hoping horse-sitting is on the horizon for me!
