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As a Fowl Hath
by Beth LaBuff Subjects in a kingdom with A vastly different culture, Were a flock of finely feathered fowl, Ruled by a vulture. The vulture had a press conference, Announced some shocking facts, Their infrastructure needed fixed, He'd have to raise their tax. To start with a committee had To analyze decay. It seemed that bumps and potholes Plagued their landing strip runway. The vulture used conscription To draft a common loon, His job to raise tax revenue Find ways to do it soon. Taxes charged "as each fowl hath" And based on what they wore. Some birds would pay a little While others would pay more. Each fowl, taxed on its colors, Whether tone or whether hue, More colors higher taxes To compile new revenue. A census was mandated To count colors on each bird. Single-file before the loon, Much grousing could be heard. Rich peacock, wealthy humming bird Or so the loon assumed, And placed on them a premium tax For iridescent plumes. A shy goose in her gray down coat, From fright, started to swoon. She left a pile of feathers As she molted near the loon. Canary yellow, chartreuse, teal, Cardinal red, and heather, Sapphire, crow black, indigo To tally colored feathers. The new tax programa success, The loon assumed free rein, Became a little crazy and Imposed more tax campaigns. A mandate stated every fowl Must pass a wing inspection, Then openly display a tag On their hindquarter section. For every flight-plan filed, A flight-plan tax was due, Was payable at take-off By every fowl who flew. The robins, charged a wing and leg, And sought to take up arms, Because of sky-high property Tax on their earthworm farms. The mallard sought a tax shelter, A duck blind his escape, Was forced to buy a duck stamp And attached it with duck tape. A warbler tax on twitterers, A clean tax on birdbaths, The loon became creative With his loony tax-brained math. Not content to tax the living With their levies, so absurd, The loon and vulture looked for ways To tax the dodo bird. Disenfranchised in their kingdom, Fowl citizens distraught. The cuckoo vocalized the words That other birds now thought. Epilogue Colors! Numbers! Visa verse! They left the loon insane, Contributed to his demise, He'd overtaxed his brain. His eulogy delivered by The vulture's raucous spiel, Who seized the opportunity, Not one to waste a meal! Copyright Beth LaBuff 2017 Before Beth LaBuff and her husband, Tilman, moved to the high desert of Arizona, she lived most of her life surrounded by the cornfields of Adair County, Iowa. http://www.faithwriters.com/websites/my_website.php?id=24676 Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |