Nature, red in tooth and claw, as Wolstenholme might say

By Damien Enright

He was a sad sight, the young heron when I took him from the freezer, so much of nature’s energy and artistry evident in the wings, in the strong flight feathers, in the fearsome beak, in the powerful feet, all wasted now, a consummately beautiful and efficient creation flaccid and bedraggled in death.