Proud torso brown as the mud

Golden plumes radiating the light of the sun

You flapped your brown wings; Wawk-wawk!

And to your promising peck I awoke.

Golden sun rising above the treetops

Golden tail shimmering in the sunlight 

A golden promise.

You'll be back for a lunchtime comus.

And I waited. And waited.

I trusted in your word.

In our eternal bond, in your vow:

To always stay with me atop this bough. 

I waited for a day, an entire day

Until the lil' ones began to cry.

Our baby birds-of-paradise yearned to be fed

'Let's wait for your father,' I said. 

Now that day seems a blur. Nothing but the rumble of a truck.

Slamming of a metal cage. I was numb and struck. 

I was searching, frenzied, wild and amok.

A year gone, and I still am. Love, did we wear out our luck?

Golden soul trapped in a cage? Or did you go away?

Or some terror befell you, hence the delay?

Where flew your promise? Shattered like ice.

Even the sun sets in paradise.