A pair of birds that was not to be!

Once upon a time, there lived a little widlfowl named Misty perched in the warm but artificial comfort of its Nest in the midlands. In search of food and warmth, Misty's parents flew to Andes ,thousands of miles away .The little Misty had to stay back as it was too young to fly the distances. Misty was not alone, with the rest of the population taking care of the little one.

Misty stood out in the colony of wildfowls.There was nothing about her that was not beautiful. She had the eyes of a doe, the plumage of an oriole ,the voice of a canary, the flight of a Trogon and the feet of a Nightingale. Needless to say,Misty was the darling of the pack and she knew it. Despite her enviable visage, Misty was not conceited. On the contrary, she was modest and was known for extending her caring words to the rest of the pack.

Misty's parents were too afraid to let their offspring dare fly. She was not belligerent, but it wanted to see what lay in the open skies. She knew she could fly, if she wanted to. She did not know if she wanted to escape, But she knew she wanted to try. One fine morning, she spotted a deviant Vireo named Ralph who had strayed from its migrating pack. Ralph was clueless in the midlands, a place which it had seen only from the skies.

Misty chirped and chacked, all the time perched in her nest. Ralph responded in a caw, with caution. Misty was attracted by the strangeness of the foreign bird. She cooed Ralph to come closer. Days passed into weeks, and they developed a code language of their own, which was greek to the local birds. Ralph jumped trees and twigs to come successively closer to this enigma of a bird that was attracting her by the day. He was bowled over by Misty's innocence and her voice which was always music to its ears. Misty went out of her way to find perches and uninhabited ,abandoned nests to lure Ralph from and the latter was just too starstruck to resist the temptation.

They soon grew intimate and sang together:

Love birds, love birds,
look at you and me.
I see you and you see me.
Here we are, perched on a tree branch,
cuddling lovingly.
Hopefully, very soon we will build our nest
and start a family
I have heard that birds of a feather
flock together.
I hope that means we will always stay
side by side now and forever.
I give you a peck and you give one to me,
Kissing birds is what we are,
and it's as sweet as can be.
Love birds, Love birds, look at you and me.
We are as happy as two love birds can ever ever be.

But!!!Thee world was not as simple as this! They were not the children of the same phoenix, they were different birds. Misty ate twigs, Ralph fed on worms. Misty flew ( if she could ) at 5000 feet, Ralph was a poor earthling and could only fly a 1000. Misty flew in flocks, Ralph flew alone. Misty would probably ultimately fly out to the far south-west, Ralph's dream was limited to his land. But they had something in common which bound them together, what is was , remained to mystery to both of them.

A Male wildfowl Lowan beckoned Misty from the comfort of the Andes. Misty was all soaked in her love for the Vireo and the pair were in their own fantasy realms. "I would never be able to mate you"! Misty said once in despair. Ralph was complacent and assured her.

Misty's love for Ralph was no secret in the colony now. She was isolated and ostracized , had to spend days without food. But she took it all without a whimper until she felt Ralph at her side. But happy days last only so long.

Ralph's tribe did the calling! He had to fly back! There was no more he could stretch the sojourn. He prepared for his flight back to the jungle where he came from. Misty promised to follow suit, it was only a matter of time she said.

Fellow mockingbird Columba were the only way they could communicate, as they were the only birds who could fly the distance and understand both their tongues. Ralph dispatched Columba with sweet nothings, Misty Responded twice. This next time Ralph sent the tune, Columba returned mum. Worried and astonished, Ralph sent another Columba again on the long journey, no avail. It returned and resigned in despair, "I couldn't get her message, she has a different sound. She used to sing, she calls now. It was you earlier, but it is Lowan now.

Days, weeks, months passed by, Ralph waited all night each day to listen to the tune of Misty from the horizon , the song did not arrive, it never arrived. Ralph sings to himself:

Look at you and me,
I can't see you and you can't see me.
Here I am and there you are,
Separated despairingly.
Only if we could build our nest
And start a family,
But you now say, that we cannot fly together,
Whichever be the skies, Whatever be the weather.
You change your sound and look the other way, I see
But you are and will be , always ,the One, to me
Kissing birds was what we were,
But now you have someone else over there,
Love birds, Love birds, look at you and me,
We are two love birds, that were not to be.