Return, Ye ‘Birds of Heaven’

And what sort of unholy banquet was it
Archbishop Neville presided over in the name of the Lord?
204 exotic birds, stuffed and roasted on a spit!

So prized by the rich, one wonders why
they must destroy what they purport to love.
Valued only when it’s gone.

Now these birds of heaven return to fly
display and breed and rise sunwards,
free to feast and not be feasted on.

Only where booming bitterns cry
and cranes stretch their necks towards
a more enlightened sky is there true dawn.

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[Author’s note]
In 1465, George Neville became archbishop of York.
To mark the occasion, he threw a banquet.
They served 204 cranes, roasted on a spit
and probably stuffed with pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg.