Twas a month before Spring and all through the aviary
Not a creature was stirring, Not even a Canary.
The nest boxes were hung on the cages with care,
In hopes that some eggs soon would be there.
The Quakers were nestled all snug in their huts,
With visions of nutriberries, chocolate and nuts.
The husband in his pjs and I, with my specs,
Had just walked in for a late midnight check.
When down by the quakers, we heard huffing and puffing
The husband muttered…it’s probably nothing!
Away to the boxes, I flew like a flash.
Opened the box and stood back and gasped.
The moon through the window shown on the cage
And gave a glimpse of a quaker with a beautiful egg!
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a quaker in flight, going for my ear!!!
With a little ole beak so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment I was going to be sick!!
More sharp than falcons, his talons they lowered
between my ear lobe and the back of my collar.
The bite, the scrape, the screeches and snaps,
The way that he bit….I was NO match!
At the door of the aviary, in the site of my spouse,
I slipped on the concrete, and woke the whole house.
As a helpless idiot in the face of terror,
I tried to get up…that was an error.
So up to my head, once again he did fly
With an open beak, he went straight for my eye.
And then in a twinkling he was on my face,
laughing it up…I was a total disgrace.
As I rose to my feet, my husband did laugh,
For he was now sure we were parronts at last!
The egg was white and sound and ever so nice,
Just what we had longed for but always “no dice”.
The quaker just watched us making a fuss,
He looked like a proud daddy if ever there was.
His eyes how they glistened, his feathers were rounded,
He just knew that the panic he had was well founded.
His grasp on my arm was still ever so strong,
that the blood ran down to my skirt from my arm!
He had a firm grip and let us both know
that he wasn’t giving up until we both showed
That we were on our way out of the door,
After all, that was what he was waiting for!
He mumbled some words after loosening his grip.
Flew to the cage and turned with a flip!
He crawled in his hut and to us gave a glance
tucked under his wing….not merely by chance.
And I heard him mumble as he dozed off to sleep…
“Go to bed you guys, it’ll be 5 weeks!!”