Footfalls

I find it quite a treat to listen to the sounds of feet
as they move along and fall upon the ground
Or the other little things, like the fins and tails and wings
that help the creatures small and big to get around

Some might think it's such a bore but for me I just adore
them and the noise they make can't help but make me smile
And you might also find that they seldom seem to mind
if you choose to stop and listen for a while

I enjoy the clopping clipping of the trotting or the skipping
of a happy hoofy horse along the trail
And a mule as it bumbles or a deer that runs and rumbles
are some things that titillate me without fail

I can never get to sleep when I start thinking about sheep
and their resounding bounding bucking when they play
Or maybe you preferred to catch the tramping of a herd
of huddled cattle as they gallop in the hay

It's really quite entrancing when a mountain goat is prancing
and his climbing clack-clicks echo on the rocks
And don't forget the clomping of the heavy stamp and stomping
of a grumpy humpy camel or an ox

Oh my joy it never ends when I hear some feathered friends
flit and flutter forth and back among the trees
I delight around a humming bird that hovers with wings thrumming
and you can hum right with him if you please

I find it very pleasant every time I catch a pheasant
rustle shuffling from underneath the brush
And my wonder's never stopping when I hear the petite popping
of the talons of a little wren or thrush

Or to hear a crow go strutting down the lane is simply nothing
short of magical although it's seldom loud
But when she flaps and bats her wings, my heart it absolutely sings
as I watch her rise high into a cloud

Some feet are very little, but if you work a bit you'll
hear a symphony of teeny footsteps too
I'm enraptured by the rapping of the tiny toetip tapping
of the scurry of a mouse or mole or shrew

When I hear a hare or rabbit, well that chance I always grab it
as their lucky paws go swinging springing past
And a weasel that goes darting is just all too soon departing
but I like its little footsteps while they last

A lizard can be wary but I like to listen where he
scratches skittering along a garden wall
And the slithering of snakes and the subtle sound it makes
is sometimes like it doesn't have a sound at all

Now, if you're very quiet, and I quite suggest you try it
you can hear some feet that fall much smaller still
Like a busy beetle bustle or the rhythmic drumming hustle
of a marching line of ants around their hill

You can hear the patter-pitter of a hungry caterpillar
as she wiggles off to luncheon on some leaves
And you simply have to try to hear a gauzy butterfly
or moth alighting lightly, riding on the breeze

I have often heard the sound of the scramble of a hound
or a playful puppy digging at the lawn
And the claws of a raccoon upon some treebark 'neath the moon
as he clambers down and up from dusk to dawn

I find you seldom hear a cat, if you can imagine that
as they slink around as quiet as a whisper
But the clatter of a clowder of some cats is often louder
when they pounce their pawpads patting at a whisker

I admit I'm rather fond of all the noises in a pond
or a lake or stream or wetland or a brook
You might just like them as well, but you just can never tell
until you go and have a listen and a look

I do like to note a swan or a goose go floating on
or the washy-wishy paddle of a duck
There's the thwapping thwipping thumping of a toad as it goes jumping
all about the muddy puddles and the muck

Or perhaps that old splash-splish of the tailfin of a fish
as she swims along the glassy water's edge
Or to hear a turtle trundle, I enjoy the sound a bundle
as he plods around a tree trunk or a hedge

It's really very riveting to happen on some ribbiting
frog friends who hop upon their logs with thuds
And when they want a snack, I hear they quite enjoy a pack
of flies or other zipping winged buzzing bugs

If you get the chance to be along the shoreline of the sea
I say you mustn't miss the sounds found on the sands
There's the scuttle of a crab a gliding gull might like to nab
and the whapping of her webbed feet when she lands

There's a certain rare appeal to hear a walrus or a seal
or other flipper-flapper flopping on the beaches
And there's nothing like a whale who elegantly waves his tail
and sends it cracking smacking down each time he breeches

I think highly of each one and it's just no end of fun
to sneak a peek and listen to them roam
And when I meet a favorite, that chance I always savor it
until it's time that my feet take me home