image
image

Bliss was a red parrot (with a touch of green)

She shared her cage, though he was rarely seen

With another parrot named Mr Shred

Who was mostly green with a bit of red.

Bliss liked to squawk loudly and flap wildly about

Mr Shred was quiet, and thought Bliss a big lout

He watched his cage-mate with an unblinking eye

And hoped the other parrot would shortly die.

Bliss suspected nothing of Mr Shred’s hate

While the bad parrot plotted Bliss’s untimely fate

Mr Shred thought of murder, and didn’t fear the crime

He lived in a cage – he was already doing the time.

image

Mr Shred’s beak worked on extracting a wire

To use as a dagger to make Bliss expire

But the wire was one that held closed the door

It suddenly opened, and Bliss fell out on the floor.

Squawking and flapping, the parrot jumped round

Soon pursued at full bark by the family hound

While Mr Shred gawked at this unforeseen race

Bliss got herself airborne and flew out of the place.

image

Now there is only a green parrot (with a touch of red)

And the cage is the sole domain of one Mr Shred

But he is not happy, because his victim lives still

Bliss flaps around the window and squawks from the sill.