Cardinal Rules

We call the cardinal pair
Carlo and Consuela.
The scruffy cardinal babies,
buff and almost-crimson,
crests not quite triangular
are Carlito and Consuelita.

The squirrel with a lame back leg
has a tail that always bends to the right,
often belying his intended path.
Nonetheless, his name is Right Turn Only.

We don’t name them to lay claim to them.
Like parents,
we name them
in the hopes they’ll return.