I'd like to nominate Eisa's poem,
The Nestling located in Seren's Synapse. This poem pulls on your heartstrings with clever use of personification and metaphors. A must read!
Best of luck Snow!
~Lori
The Nestling by Eisa Needham She flinches; a featherless bird
tumbles, landing breathless.
Thoughts surge back forty years--
He arrived quietly
entwined in his lifeline,
hurriedly wrapped
in a hospital blanket.
Voices were hushed
as they rushed him away.
They thought it humane
to shroud his existence;
no whispered goodbyes.
She ached to nestle her son,
stroke his soft face and
sway him to lullabies.
One glimpse; never seen again.
Memories are tucked away in the attic:
the blue unused crib,
a hand crocheted shawl
to snuggle him in her arms.Mother bird screeches
from a lifeless nest …
grief swoops like a vulture
tearing her insides;
tears still flow after forty years.Wrapping the nestling
in a pink print hankie
she hums,
Rock-a-bye baby, in the tree-top resting it in a cardboard box.
She buries it in moist earth
beneath a sycamore that cradles
the half empty nest in its arms,
scattering poppy seeds; her memorial.
When buds bloom, crumpled crimson,
she still longs to know --
if his eyes twinkled blue, reflecting her image
and where he lies now
… to place a poppy wreath.