Geese with Blue Beaks - oil painting (unframed)

The Wedding Guests

It was no accident,

that the snow geese wore lacy veils.

They stood about modestly,

wagging their tapered tails.

Their oval shaped bodies,

and plumage white and plump,

Ready for the wedding,

as they gathered in a clump.

The geese were so excited,

getting ready for the bridal bash.

Spraying themselves with perfumed algae,

Wings squirted and splashed.

The geese so proud to be invited,

as the bride ’n’ groom’s special guests

Receiving carefully signed invitations,

delivered directly to their nests.

A bunch of ‘geeks’ they’d been called,

the gaggle gathered for the feast.

Fattened like ‘fatted calf’s’,

with butter, lard, and grease.

Decked in fragrant confetti,

herbs, salt ’n’ pepper and thyme.

Perfumed with a squeeze of lemon,

orange, and a hint of lime.

The geese pecked their dinner,

with their moderately flattened beaks.

Stamping expectantly at the grass,

with aquatic webby feet.

Ready to take to water,

as soon as the feast was done.

Their snowy white feathers,

shimmering in the heat of the sun.

Carefully dressed in muslin,

feathery puffs, and netted sprays.

Their blue beaks polished brightly,

ready for the slay.

Their unsuspecting innocence,

pure as the virgin snow.

Garbed sensibly for the wedding,

with lovely silky blue bow.

Their blue bills quivered over,

the words they’d learned and said,

‘Do you take this, man and wife,’

the gaggle hissed, ‘so you be wed?’

The bride and groom looked on,

as if they were in on a joke,

Knowing that the blue beaks,

were all about to croak.

And so, with the ceremony set,

the geese could no longer escape,

To distant lands and places,

where there were no lace-like fates,

Or wedding feasts and bride grooms

or guests with funny hats,

To a land of water, rivers, and lakes,

and mudflats covered in gnats.

But don’t be sad by this rhyme,

of snow geese tethered and trussed.

Wings and legs tied carefully,

and stuffing made tasty with a crust.

Because this tale has a happy end,

so, don’t you be glum,

As the trusting geese escaped,

before the final deed was done.