Parrots Call the Colors of a 1000 Names Remembered

They meet everyday in the vermillion wall
tender colors of viridescent and lapis lazuli that
caress the blood before it stains then fades,
calling the colors of a thousand names remembered

They drop their cracked seeds to be mashed 
into the mud of the cobbled street below
preening each other’s feather to a quiet array,
moaning softly, butting heads in ritual love