Raven (Notevember 2021, #5)

These are… relative things
When you have claws and I have wings
When you just hiss, I caw and croak
Where you wear armor, I’ve a cloak
Who wants that multitude of scale?
Instead of fancy, feathered tail
Your reptile rump – a lash, a whip
My avian gait of jump and skip
You would rather laze than run
Baking in the midday sun
I am built to perch, then soar
What else are these feathers for?
And yes, they take some time to preen
And certainly, your shiny green
Is every bit as vibrant, fine
As plumage with its sooty shine
I do suppose your claws are sharper
So that you may quickly scarper
My talons grip – no need to fight
When I am light and built for flight
I am ever skyward bound
But you’re a crawler on the ground
Though trees we share, from time to time
(Who doesn’t like a little climb?)
Your toothy snout, my chatty beak
Though you may doubt it, I can speak!
You dig holes and I build nests
And who’s to say which method’s best
But eggs – on that we can agree!
A bond we share through progeny
That’s evidence of ancestry?
I’m sure someone can answer me

The different paths our forebears took
Resulted in, well, different looks
But still, they say that we are kin
You need but take a peek within
And in the record locked in stone
Of ancient scale and quill and bone
Forgive my raving – just recall:
We’re not so different after all