The first time I saw

A slow worm, a glow worm
an ant carrying a leaf
my father throwing beer over my mother
my mother crying
a hoopoe in our garden by the sea
a crested newt swimming upstream
my son close to death
my daughter fly from her trapeze
my other daughter cradle her new-born
a scorpion in my tent in Italy
a badger shuffling ahead of me at dusk
a hare staring at me
a fawn in a rainstorm
my mother no longer alive.