June 19, 2025

Chanticleer (The Numb Priest's Tale)

He struts around the barnyard,

Cochin Rooster that he is,

Boasting of how he rules the roost,

But his miffed biddy avoids him,

While his cloying banty, yawning,

Clutches to his perch, afraid of falling.

He opens the gilded gate and allows

The waiting fox entry,

Preens his feathers and prepares

To spread his wings.

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He's borrowed his little buddy's

Catch-phrase that the sky is falling

To commence the coop that's caught fire

All around his primped out brand.

The roosters ground beneath his claws

Have all re-assembled behind his wattle

Allowing him to construct a hutch

As if condoned at total barnyard behest,

Caring not that the trail he leaves

Will be for their descendants to disinfect.

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This cockamamie mania might be well and good

If the machinery at his disposal

Wasn't broken, and weathered, and

Withered by the glare of the sun,

Leaving him without substance

Behind his crack-of-dawn crow.

The farmers are all out in the field,

Tending to the dying crop

Now that their laborers have

All been dragged off or shot.

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He thinks he bedazzles the famous fox

He's dragged to warmer climes,

But he is too busy salivating

Over the ringing of his own squawk

To hear the cur's catalog

Of better lies and feigned fawning,

Or the sounds of cash registers closing,

Not even the manure can be sold,

The farmstead's falling apart

All around his fowl friends.

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The corral with the asses lined up

To do his bidding has been overcome by parasites,

And the stench can now be snuffed

Miles far from the swamp

He so famously promised to drain

In a dream that never was.

Not a nun, nor a priest,

Nor a newly minted Pope

Can save our Chanticleer

From the ruin of a fox.

Inspiration from Aimee Mann ("That's How I Knew The Story Would Break My Heart"),  Geoffery Chaucer ("The Nun's Priest's  Tale"), and chickensandyou.dot com (for the picture).