What can match the plumage and tail
Of the brilliant peacock shining fine?
Can any the range of scales regale
That koel’s dulcet voice divine?

What of the sweet tongued parrot wild
Or the swan that does glide with grace?
Can a toy bird in the hands of a child
In motion and song the real, replace?

What temerity does the cuckoo possess
Hatching its eggs in another’s nest?
A nest of gold.. I do confess
For forbidden - it does seek the best.

Each bird with a feature unique
Teaching us to sing and speak.
This, that, cunning and grace,
Windows to the human face.

Birds indeed, clever creatures,
Natures’s oldest, best teachers.

Rajeshwari Iyer lives in Brampton, Ontario and teaches Chemistry at the College/University level in Toronto. She is the mother of a special needs child and enjoys reading, music and travel. She has contributed poems to SAWF (South Asian Women's Forum), Magazines such as KALA, Marina, quarterly publications based in Toronto. She has also contributed to e-zines such as Poetry.com, Thinnai, and Tamilonline.