The Chocolate Bird

Have you ever seen the milk chocolate bird
by the bay in the Caramel Sea?
His feathers are smooth and cocoa-brown,
he is named Carlos Cadbury.

He gathers up flakes and mud-cake crumbs
to line the sides of his nestlé
and feeds four chicks on chocolate chips
from the cookies adrift on the bay.

He glides in mixed-fruit and nut currents
above the swirl of sugary gruel,
and searches the shoals for swift turkish delights
swimming in purple-gold schools.

When darkening rocky-road thunder clouds
threaten soft marshmallow rain,
the chocolate bird, with his sampler full,
leaves the fudge-whipped sea, to go home again.

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© Frank Prem, 2000