Oh dear Miss Cardinal

Oh dear Miss Cardinal,
I so often miss your merit,
in flight with your suitor
red and regal
but I see it now in your feathers
all a-ruffle on the dirt floor,
a heap of rusty brown and russet,
bequeathed to the approaching brown-
pink panting tongue and
wet coal sniffing;

When I sit on the couch in sleep
and a brown-pink tongue
and wet coal sniffing
moisten my face I scream
“NO Toby NO”
but you rest in perfect harmony,
resigned to your fate,
your orange beak crunching
between gnashing teeth
and your feathers
arrayed so pleasantly and I say
“Oh dear Miss Cardinal,
I never knew you were so pretty.”