{"id":2905,"date":"2021-05-27T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T08:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/?p=2905"},"modified":"2021-05-26T20:55:37","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T19:55:37","slug":"the-prayer-of-the-common-newt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/the-prayer-of-the-common-newt\/","title":{"rendered":"The prayer of the Common Newt<\/span>Gordon Meade<\/span>"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

The Prayer of the Common Newt<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a muddy pond, in the outskirts\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

of Clydebank, a mother, with over two\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

hundred eggs inside her, is beginning the process<\/span><\/p>\n

of giving birth. Over the next few weeks,<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

each day she will deposit about a dozen\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

of them not on a folded over leaf, as she might\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

have done if there had been one around, but in the folds\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

of a plastic carrier bag. Each egg will be\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

individually placed inside a fold, which she\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

herself will create, and then held in place with\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

a glue that is contained within a gland inside her body.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As she presses the plastic folds together\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

around the eggs she must hold them firmly\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

between her fingers until the glue stiffens. It looks\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

as if she might be praying and, indeed, in her own way,<\/span><\/p>\n

she is. It is a prayer for life. It is a prayer\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

for her offspring to have the best possible\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

chance of survival. It is the prayer of the common\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

newt that, though it is being offered by an amphibian,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

is one for which we can all give praise.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Swimming Pool<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This afternoon, at the edge of the village,<\/span><\/p>\n

in the disused, open-air swimming pool, there is<\/span><\/p>\n

a young man tormenting his dog. He orders<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

it to jump into the pool and then proceeds<\/span><\/p>\n

to throw stone after stone into the water, imploring<\/span><\/p>\n

the dog to dive in and retrieve them all.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is obvious, from the start, that the dog is<\/span><\/p>\n

uncomfortable with this but that does not stop<\/span><\/p>\n

the youth. I do not intervene, knowing that<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

if a man is capable of mistreating what he<\/span><\/p>\n

deems to be a dumb animal, he will be just as likely<\/span><\/p>\n

to harm another human being. It reminds me<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

of a time when a friend of mine and I tried to<\/span><\/p>\n

separate a husband and wife only to find ourselves<\/span><\/p>\n

being chased down the street by both of them.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As I walk home, I can hear, from afar, the young man<\/span><\/p>\n

still shouting out the dog’s name, its high-pitched yapping,<\/span><\/p>\n

and the monotonous splash of water and stone.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Sort of Chorus<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The day would have liked<\/span><\/p>\n

to have had a dawn chorus<\/span><\/p>\n

but was granted instead with<\/span><\/p>\n

a cacophony of disparate<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

voices; a gaggle of geese<\/span><\/p>\n

flew overhead; a murder of crows<\/span><\/p>\n

cawed to one another from a range<\/span><\/p>\n

of uneven gable ends; a colony<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

of seagulls laughed as they are<\/span><\/p>\n

wont to do, not with, but at each<\/span><\/p>\n

other; and one I hadn’t heard from<\/span><\/p>\n

in years a solitary pigeon gargled<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

in the morning light. And it felt<\/span><\/p>\n

as if, although not musical, almost<\/span><\/p>\n

anything might still be possible<\/span><\/p>\n

inside that crop of notes.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CALL TO ACTION: <\/strong>I would urge anyone who is concerned about man’s inhumanity to the non-human animals with whom we share this planet to visit We Animals Media at <\/span>https:\/\/weanimalsmedia.org<\/span><\/a>. This site “brings visibility to hidden animals worldwide through compelling photographs and film”, giving their harrowing stories “a place in the public conscience.” While visiting the site you will also be able to both subscribe to their newsletter, and make a donation to support their invaluable work.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

George Meade\u00a0is a Scottish poet based in the East Neuk of Fife. His tenth collection of poems, Zoospeak<\/em>, a collaboration between himself and the Canadian photographer and animal activist, Jo-Anne McArthur, which examines the experiences of animals in captivity throughout the world, was published in 2020 by Enthusiastic Press in London.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The Prayer of the Common Newt   In a muddy pond, in the outskirts\u00a0 of Clydebank, a mother, with over two\u00a0 hundred eggs inside her, is beginning the process of giving birth. Over the next few weeks,   each day she will deposit about a dozen\u00a0 of them not on a folded over leaf, […]<\/p>\n

Read More… from The prayer of the Common Newt<\/span>Gordon Meade<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,1],"tags":[38,48,438,439],"yoast_head":"\nThe prayer of the Common Newt - Writers Rebel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/writersrebel.com\/the-prayer-of-the-common-newt\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The prayer of the Common Newt - Writers Rebel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  The Prayer of the Common Newt   In a muddy pond, in the outskirts\u00a0 of Clydebank, a mother, with over two\u00a0 hundred eggs inside her, is beginning the process of giving birth. 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