Empty Nest

The old bird sits
Surveying nest and tree,
Mama flits and flies about
An hundred errands left.

His memories are a thousand scenes,
Bereft of ordered source.
Not random, but in retrograde
Recap a season’s end

     Materials gathered 
     Woven tight 
     Feathered, warm with down

     Hatchlings screaming
     Growth and learning
     Fledglings flap and gone

The old bird sees an empty nest
While mama flits and flies
A season closed, a longing pride
Begins to fill his breast.