Kookaburra

The table’s set for many guests,
with challah bread and wine
A kookaburra watches us
from the washing line

Mum prepares the salads,
Dad jumps in the shower
There’s that blue-faced honeyeater
On a banana flower

The kids clean up the lounge room,
Grandma stirs the soup
The chooks are clucking quietly
in the chicken coop

Auntie flicks the urn on
While Pa sneaks in a snooze
Screeching through the violet sky
are two black cockatoos

We put away the washing
And give the floor a sweep
A bush turkey is scratching
Through the compost heap

The guests are now arriving
We start to take our seats
What’s that noisy chattering?
Those rainbow lorikeets!

We sing and light the candles
Then watch the setting sun
The birds all sing their welcome song
Shabbos has begun