A Dictation of Secretary Birds

Title: ‘A Dictation of Secretary Birds’
Media: My own hand made glass fusions, dichroic glass, Sicis.
Size Unframed:  50 cm x 50 cm /19.5 inches x 19.5 inches 
Size Framed:  62 cm x 62 cm /24.5 inches x 24.5 inches
Price: £1000.00 / $1350.00
 
Here is the accompanying verse by Brian Sibley:
 ‘A Dictation of Secretary Birds’
 
On the sub-Saharan savannahs is where secretary birds abound,
Busy making and answering phone calls for the lions lyin’ around.
Factually, of course, that isn’t quite true to life on the African veldt,
But it raises the question why secretary birds are called that and not something else.
 
It’s said those spiky feathers that sprout from the back of the head,
Recall secretaries working in banks in an era that’s now long dead,
With a handy supply of inky quills tucked firmly behind each ear, 
They were always prepared to pen letter or bill in a style that was 
bold and clear.
 
The communal word for secretary birds is a plain and simple ‘nest’
Which compared with other exotic names is very far from the best,
More apt, I think, for this bird of prey that roams the African nation
Would be if a flock of these hooked-beaked goons were referred to
as ‘a dictation’.