I noticed the cardinal couple
In my upper garden
Perched on the fence
So close trading
Nips and bumps
In a loving way
He bright red
With black mask and orange beak
She more muted with orange accents
He glided to the lower fence
Beside the feeder
And judging the coast clear
Hopped to the nut covered perch
Searching for his favorite
Black Sunflower seeds
Fluffing the rest to the ground
Intent on his task
 When the jay came hawk screeching in 
From the forested hill
Blue striped wings all out
To knock the unwary cardinal
From his perch
On the feeder
Just a fun thing
Bullying jays love to do
To smaller birds
Caught off guard
 The red beauty of the skies
Was falling to the side
When he mustered
Every bit of his energy and courage
And as those jousters of old
 With his lady watching
Refused to fall to defeat
Challenged the bully
To a kerfuffle
Right there
Right then
He edged in under those flapping blue wings
And dealt a few body blows
To the unguarded underside
Of the bigger bird
Obviously surprised
By the offense
There they were in the air
Beside the feeder
Red and blue wings flapping
Hearts pounding and feathers flying
But no one knocked to the ground
After a few seconds
They both retired to the fence
And waited
As ten seconds ticked by
Then the cardinal returned
To the feeder
Picking again through the seeds
To find his sunflowers
The blue jay
Retreated to the ground
Searching through the cast-offs
The victorious cardinal
Flew with a noticeable swagger of tail feathers to the upper garden
And returned with his lady
To pick leisurely through the seeds
Ignoring the sulking blue bird
Underneath still checking
The leftovers