FUNNY OLD BIRDS
The kuku loves domestic bliss
The kaka likes life’s turns and twists
The kuku is at its best at home
The kaka though is prone to roam.
While kukus plump for picturesque
The kaka goes for picaresque
For the kuku absences are antithetic
Contrast the kaka - he’s peripatetic
Like Zorro the kaka wears a red bolero
Not so, the demure and retired kereru
The kuku is polite and workaholic
Where kakas are ever prone to frolic
At a party, you can guess who’s most shambolic
The kaka always gins without the tonic
The kuku rarely doffs its vest
While kakas often dance a wild burlesque
The kaka will raise the decibels with yakka
And soon he’ll ask his mates to haka
So all in all, the kuku’s just an early player
And it’s the kaka who’s the party-stayer
Birds of a different feather they may be.
“Have a drink! Which of them do you think is me?”
‘He kuku ki te kainga,
He kaka ki te haere.’
[“He is a wood-pigeon (kuku / kereru) when he's at home but a noisy parrot (kaka) when he's out and about.”]
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