The Wren and the Barbeque

March —

On a wall across from the patio

Six birdhouses wait

Patiently, hopefully.

April –

A wren arrives

He works hard

His mate joins

First, one bird leaves

It returns

The other leaves

It returns

Meaning:  “eggs incubated”

Time passes, days warm

Insects emerge

Both birds leave

Both birds return

Meaning:  “chicks growing”

We wait

For chicks to emerge

To welcome them into the world

But we also buy a new

barbeque

to be delivered assembled,

rolled into the yard

on pebbled cement

by the birdhouse

May–

Early morning

The noise

of a rolling barbeque

deafening, terrifying –

especially for wrens

A parent bird

with puffed chest

blocks the entrance

 to the birdhouse…

…but one chick has escaped

Through the doors that lead

into our sun room

Onto the neck of my banjo

This chick knows not what to do

We know not what to do

We coax it from our house

Into the bushes below its house

We leave

The next day the bird house is empty.

June —

On a wall across from the patio

Six birdhouses wait

Patiently, hopefully.

                                    (July-Nov 2020)