Another parrot

[heliopausa]

This one is well-known, but what the heck....

The Red Cockatoo

Sent as a present from Annam -
A red cockatoo. 
Colour'd like the peach-tree blossom, 
Speaking with the speech of men. 
And they did to it what is always done 
To the learned and eloquent. 
They took a cage with stout bars 
And shut it up inside.


(From Arthur Waley's translation of the ninth-century Chinese of Po Chu-I (772-846 AD))