An old poem I wrote 20 years ago for one of the kids.

It was the 14th of August
A fine summer’s day
When Rita the budgie
She started to lay
A fine bird was Rita
Looked good for her age
But she wondered who put
A small egg in her cage

“How could this have happened?”
She cried to her mate
An old codger called Rover
Who just perched there and ate
“Oh never mind Rita
There’s no need for fuss
If the egg hatches, it’s company for us!

So Rita decided
To be a good mum
She manoeuvred the egg
To fit under her bum
She sat there for hours
With no time for slacking
But fear gripped her mind
As the egg started cracking

The egg began rolling
All over the cage
As if it were angry
And fuming with rage
But soon the egg tired
It seemed very weak
Until through a slight crack
Appeared a small beak

Rita heard little noises
“Perhaps baby’s in pain”
But then the wild spinning
Just started again
Then it fell silent
Until Rover said
“It looks like it’s coming lass
We’d better get wed”

They anxiously waited
For the chick to be born
But the egg simply lay there
Looking lost and forlorn
But just as the parents
Were filling with dread
The shell split clean open
And out popped a head

As the chick looked around him
His mum said, appalled
“He’s not a good looker
Good gracious he’s bald!”
Rover just smiled
Before he replied
“All babies are hairless”
But Rita just sighed.

The egg shell was open
And the chick tried to talk
But all they could hear
Was a faint little squawk


“What shall we call him?
Rita's answer was cool
“With his ugly bald head
Let’s call him Yul!”

Rover said to his mrs
“How clever you are
What a smashing idea
He may become a film star”
So they looked after baby
Who could pass as a crow
But as days turned to weeks
Feathers started to grow
“A fine body of plumage”
It was quite often said
Except for the bald patch
On top of his head

Yul the bald budgie
Was quite an attraction
Which gave both his parents
Immense satisfaction
Although he looked silly
Standing out in a crowd
Young Yul’s sad affliction
Made both parents proud.

This state of affairs
Would be ample for some
But no-one was aware
That far worse was to come

Yul was quite greedy
His food intake was high
His girth was so fat
He was unable to fly

When his cage door was opened
With wings spread to soar
But sadly the fat bird
Crashed down to the floor

He clambered  back up
A sad, sorry sight
Yul the bald budgie
Had an absence of flight

Despite many attempts
To launch into the air
Yul remained grounded
But he didn’t care

His cage was quite cosy
With good food to eat
And he cared not one joy
He could not see his feet.

One day  he was dozing

His mum brought a pilot
With a tiny hand glider
He stuck the frame to Yul’s small wings
They spread out far and wide
And after being kicked from the open door
Yul began to glide

He soared past trays of teacups
And bombed the stereo
He circled round the three piece suite
There was nowhere he couldn’t go
He skirted the coffee table
Then circled the suite again
Until he came to a juddering halt
As he hit the window pane

The flight abruptly finished
With feathers everywhere
But Yul was so ecstatic
He simply didn’t care
He called out for his mother
And asked his dad to fetch her
And lo within a blinking eye
He was laid out on a stretcher

It took poor Yul a week or two
But he gradually recovered
Helped by goodies from his dad
And being permanently mothered.
And the moral of this story
Is one all of us should keep
Don’t over eat and end up fat
And look before you leap.