Victoria Crowned Pigeon

 

Victoria Crowned PIgeons:

What delicate plumage - 

And complex courtship -

There are bare bones 

Somewhere underneath the show

But now is not the time to search for them.

He dances; She spreads

Her wings, raises them high, runs

Around him, legs slightly bent,

Uttering short hissing noises.

What a lot of fuss -

Let’s hope he’s worth it !

But who are we to laugh?

Do we  understand? Really?

Passing strange the languages of love! 

The Victoria Crowned Pigeons

As they unravel the mysteries of purpose

Deep in a forest designed for them to keep a low profile 

(Or who designed what - after all those millennia who can tell?)

Will produce a single egg

And both will guard it with their dancing lives

And after a time of high exertion, privation and danger

The little darling will emerge.