The Fledgling

Hopping around the parking lot,
oil-streaked and stovetop-hot,
her young ignores the shrieks of “danger
drawing near!” But I’m no stranger.

I’ve seen her perched atop the fence,
her deep red tint in evidence.
But when her fearless flyer smacks
a car, something in me reacts.

As she observes with anxious eye,
I clutch him close. He fights to fly
from fingers kind yet as unbending
as bone and not used to befriending

robins. But I rush to bring
this frightened one inside. I wing
it playing vet and stroke his head.
He shuts his eyes. He must be fed,

I know. She had been busy schooling
him to fly; now I sit fooling
with this vulnerable guest.
I’d set him free, but where’s her nest?

How to lead him to grass and clover,
where fledglings will not be run over.
To guide him to the caterpillars.
To guard him from the robin killers.

_____________________________________

(Appeared in The Rotary Dial and The Speculative Edge.)


Comments

Regina's picture
Best wishes for the contest ! Right outside our front door, in a safe spot secured at the top of a column, there is a mother Robin incubating her eggs. I told my grandchildren not to push aside the drapes to look at her, she needs peace and quiet. Can't wait until her young ones hatch. ~

Regina

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Miles T. Ranter's picture
Thanks, Regina. I'm glad you advised your grandkids to be careful about opening the curtains. In my previous place, there was a robin's nest on a little tree right outside the front porch. In the nest were several tiny birds growing by the day. Finally, one afternoon I looked and they were all gone, the nest empty. Later I saw several of the fledglings hopping around the neighbor's backyard. There was a thunderstorm that afternoon. My dog was on a long leash and almost caught one. He sprinted into the yard and, at first, I didn't realize what he was after. Then I saw the little robin hop into some weeds by the house and hide in the drainpipe! So it was safe from the storm as well as my predatory mutt. After watching those birds grow up and fledge, I would have been quite dismayed had my dog actually caught one of them.

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