Ducks

Over by the grand canal you can see them congregating in their droves Swimming up and down the sunny silver stream that they've made their homes Dipping their yellow beaks in the water every minute or so Searching for something small to eat, because their hunger it grows They go through this routine methodically all their lives Only pausing for a break when a drake is out looking for a wife To satisfy his need to spread his seed he takes a female into the reeds Caresses her feathers with his beak and then they start to breed and then they start quacking, quack quack quacking along They start quacking, quacking out a simple song Near the bench where Kavanagh sits there's a mother giving bread to her child For her to break up into pieces and feed the ducks for a while Soggy bread must be a delicacy because they all fight for a space As near the girl as possible, they're almost eating her face Then the mother start to worry that her daughter might fall into the canal She cries 'be careful' to her child, who replies 'Mummy don't be so banal' But mummy takes her away and the bread-flow is ended therefore They leave the ducks in the water, quacking out for more They're just quacking, quack quack quacking along quacking, quacking out a simple song Throw a pebble in the water and they'll come over thinking it's some food But then they'll realise that its just a stone which to them ain't no good They'll look at you in anger thinking 'What a bastard that guy is' Getting petty amusement by setting us on a fruitless quiz And as the night closes in the ducks gradually disappear Where they go I don't know, their destination to me ain't very clear But one things for sure, they're always back the next day Swimming, eating, breeding quacking away They're just quacking, quack quack quacking along They're just quacking, quacking out a simple song They're just quacking, quack quack quacking along They're just quacking, quacking out a simple song