Find a single starling if you can.

There used to be hundreds of them

roosting in the centres of our cities.

There used to be just as many

 

of them living in the countryside;

so many murmurations in the evening

sky. There used to be more than

a dozen or so in our backyard,

 

fighting over the odd, poorly

chosen, but well-meant, morsel

of bread. There used to be a couple

of them, whatever the weather,

 

perched upon the railings

outside our living room window.

I can no longer remember

when the last time was

 

that I actually saw one

in the flesh. We can still see

them on The Discovery Channel.

We can still hear their songs

 

as background music under-

neath the dulcit tones of David

Attenborough on the BBC. But if,

and when, you should ever

 

manage to see one; either in

someone's garden, on a fence

post at the side of a farmer's

field, or on a street corner

 

of any village, or town. Please,

just let me know because, on some

days, I have the strangest of feelings

that they may, already, be gone.