Birds Of Paradise... Poem by Mark Heathcote

Birds of paradise, how they surround us
How they zing with colour into the zeniths
Tropical flowers, how they delight us
Exploits garish or with becalm genteelness.

Regal in colour, red, orange and gold
Colours to keep out the cold
Colours as sassy as ivory satin or silk
With petals lips smooth as sun-warmed milk.

There are birds of paradise for all tastes
Some have a royal quiet-sereneness
Others are simply loud
Having a slightly overly ostentatiousness;

Either way Birds of paradise are typically
Very beautiful, I love how they preside
To fill our senses with their implausibility
With their dignity so rightly solidified.