Apologies for the repost - an error occurred when I tried to modify the cover image (it was reported as breaching TOS) and my article was lost somehow.

Disclaimer:

Several images that I uploaded have unfortunately been flagged/reported as breaching TOS. It's been a disheartening and confusing process as they were all originally reviewed and approved by moderators manually but I acknowledge that with matters regarding child protection you can never be too careful. As a result, I've uploaded modified versions of these images so that the spirit of these works can at least still be enjoyed safely.

Four dead chickens

A poem inspired by (very recent) true events

Four dead chickens,
Four dead friends,
One fox entered,
Four lives end.

Four lives end,
Three hearts break,
One fox entered,
Our girls it did take.

Our busy morning schedule,
Something wrong, too much still,
Too much to do, too many tasks,
To catch last night's ill.

An unnamed unease seethes,
The rhythm of routine holds sway,
Until one question stumbles out,
"Have you seen the chooks today?"

Our busy afternoon schedule,
Unbalanced, upturned, upset,
Four feathered friends uncovered,
A scene I'd rather forget.

We dug a hole in their favourite spot,
hard earth reluctant, me too,
four bodies laid where they once played,
I still hear the occasional coo.

I worry about my daughter's heart,
Can she handle such tragedy?
"Don't worry dad, it'll be OK,
We'll get some more, you'll see"

A tragedy true,
Yet life goes on...
One fox entered,
Our friends are gone.

I know it might seem silly to some, but I think that this is both the saddest and greatest thing I've ever written. I hope that whoever reads this enjoys it.

About the images:

For those interested in the images, I actually used real photos of my backyard and family to create control net masks. While the final images are only vague references to the originals, they all evoke a similar calm and tranquillity that you can find at my home. Our beautiful chooks were a big part of that calming vibe - whenever we were in the backyard they would follow us around as curious little companions. Here's an example of how I did it (the final image is actually an img2img of the controlnet output which I didn't include):

With these images, I invite you to enjoy a version of our backyard and witness genuine moments of joy and connection between my daughter and the chooks.

Full album: https://civitai.com/posts/12072995

Disclaimer - I am paranoid about the confidentiality of my children. The images of the little girl are inspired by the originals and bear no resemblance to her.