THROWBACK THURSDAY: 2/21/11 (MASTERPIECE #480)

/// At their table she’s frozen in dread.
Was it something the younger man said?
“You’ve got nothing to fear,
but, please, hold still, my dear,
for a pigeon has perched on your head.”

/// Now the waiter has noticed it, too,
and he’s tempted to wave and shout, “Shoo!”
Dining under the sky
allows birds to fly by,
and at dinner a squab may choose you.

/// Just as André was pledging his love,
came this gray-feathered pest from above.
It had ruined the mood
(not to mention the food).
No peace came from this “sign of the dove.”

/// Meanwhile, after the pigeon had flown
Mignonette had some qualms of her own.
She recalled André strode
to her side pigeon-toed,
and she now wished he’d leave her alone.

/// But their date was then saved by the waiter,
who informed them there’d be no bill later.
André begged her to stay
and, (with no need to pay),
got Mignon several drinks to sedate her.

/// Mignon’s head was a bad place to land.
Even worse is a bird in the hand.
When shove comes to push,
those two in the bush
would disrupt all that André had planned.

/// André, pigeon-holed as a poor lover,
took up bird-watching so he’d discover
why the swans mate for life.
To acquire a wife,
he’d be faithful, but learn not to hover.

/// Mignon came back to dine one year later,
and was served by the very same waiter.
He remembered her well,
(she had made his day hell),
so he now took the time to berate her.

/// When that bird settled down on her pate, her
young companion behaved like a satyr.
He had charged the pair zip,
but they’d left him no tip.
He’d forgive— if Mignon let him date her.