THE NEST WILL SOON BE EMPTY,

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 13, 26 March 1892, Page 306

THE NEST WILL SOON BE EMPTY,

Before my chamber window, In glossy splendour drest, A giant hemlock swung his arms And bared his braw-ny breast; While soft within the shadows, Slow swaying all the day, Within his mighty fingers, A fragile bird’s nest lay.

With cheery chirps and twitters, The glossy twigs among, Upon the nest a birdie sat And brooded o’er her young, Through all the merry springtime, And summer’s mellow ray : But now the nest is empty, The birdies fled away.

I watched the little mother, When, with a coaxing cry, She taught her tiny youngling brood To flap their wings and fly ; And when, at last, they fluttered Into the dying day, I watched the lonely parent birds And heard their plaintive lay.

But now the snows of winter, Are settling o’er the nest, And covering with ermine soft, The giant’s brawny breast. And ne’er a birdie’s twitter Is heard the livelong day, For, oh ! the nest is empty, The birdlings fled away.

Ah me ! my little nestlings, In mother’s circling arms I I brood with loving, jealous eyes, O’er all your growing charms. For soon, too soon 1 my sunset Will show its reddened ray, And ont into a wind-tossed world, My wee ones flit away.

But mother-love is tender, And mother’s arms are tight; She’ll teach her little nestlings now, To know and do the right. She’ll teach them to be gentle And prayerful, while she may; Then, ‘ ’Neath the shelter of His wings,’ They all must fly away.

But, oh ! ’tis for the parent birds My heart to-day is sore. And, oh ! ’tis for the empty nest, That was so full before ! And, oh ! ’tis for the solitude And sadness of the day, When from the shelter of the home, The birdlings fly away.

Bee Evelyn Phinney.