Rare Birds

Do cuckoos know they are cuckoos,
more than other bird species know themselves?
Even as cuckoos lay their eggs in other birds nests?

Of course not! Not that scientists have to know
all the mechanisms by which the cuckoo fools
the bird of a different breed, in whose nest
the cuckoo lays its own, rather larger, egg.

So it is for humans who are born to parents
who when their child becomes an adult
finds the idea of being a parent repugnant,
such that should they ever become parents,
their child may be safer removed from them.

Whilst in their own terms many non-parents
have different energies and skills, and are fine
as participants in their own communities,
they should be treasured, like rare birds:
whilst they are relieved of the pressure
to join the common herd of parenthood.