Duck's Ditty

This is one of my more treasured possessions. It's a silk Wind in the Willows bookmark that Debbie bought me over twenty years ago. It's a bit rough around the edges these days and maybe it could do with a bit of a spruce up (much like myself) but I like it and I still use it daily. I love the whimsy of it. Ratty composing his little ditties about his friends the ducks and Mole venturing his usual cautious opinion of his friend. There are several more verses in the book which altogether don't impress Mole much. What could be nicer than sitting by the riverside in the sunshine, with a picnic, talking nonsense about ducks to your best friend?
"All along the backwater,

Through the rushes tall,
Ducks are a-dabbling,
Up tails all!
Ducks' tails, drakes' tails,
Yellow feet a-quiver,
Yellow bills all out of sight
Busy in the river! "
— Kenneth Grahame