An evolutionary tale

An evolutionary tale

Still your dragon's tongue

Tasting the air

Flexing a fine long neck

With tilted head

Cocked to one side

Not for staged effect

As much for listening

There is more to relaxed

Indifference

Than merely basking

Will allow

Never drifting far

From a tidy coiled spring

Off the rocky bank

Into the waters deep

Ninety-minutes waiting

For the all-clear

It is less a game of hide and seek

Than a quiet act

Of reptilian survival

From statuesque

To submersible

In the blink of an eye

Dogs may wait

Tails wagging

Noses pointing

Undecided jumping,

Just a snap too late

To catch as much as

A disappearing tail

They can only whimper

A sorry little picture

Of lost souls

Bouncing back and forth

Along the tramlines

Until they grow tired

Of waiting for a

Dog’s dinner

And use wet noses

To push around a food bowl