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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 program—a 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!
***
© Beth LaBuff -- December 2009
written for a faithwriters.com writing challenge
Topic: It's a colorful world
***
Inspiration: 2 Corinthians 8:12
For if there be first a willing mind,
it is accepted according to that a man hath,
and not according to that he hath not. KJV
