What is there above stripped limbs that I can spy
Wedged between those spiny arms that reach too high?
One browned and muddy shelter grown obsolete
That time ago, to some bird, was world complete,
With its leafy covert fallen to the ground
Where it lies in lifeless and decaying mound.
Now empty and deserted this wasting nest
That in prime, to brooding chicks gave healthy rest.
Poor lonely home of use no more, bleak and bare,
Lost legacy of one transient flying pair
Struggling in that tangled sea of life’s morass.
Thus observed, swiftly it is, through age we pass,
To leave behind this remnant of what had been
Some message of deep concern to kith and kin.
Consider lessons now sealed within those walls,
In its girth, did gift the heart and cushion falls.
Then build our nests for each youth, both sleek and trim,
Though we guide them well, the rest is left to Him.
Claire V. Bogdanos 