THE COURTSHIP OF ROBINS

It's a dance all right
but it's not
a snuggle-up-a-little-closer
kind of dance.

It's more like competition,
a scrappy, chirpy
chase-me-okay-I'll-chase-you
avian ballet.

All of it is prelude to
a tempestuous
wild-and-wicked-flitter-flutter
culmination.

That done
they build
a nest.