The Nest Without a Hen

The Nest Without a Hen

Under the great heights of a little red barn, 

Laid a small nest within two eggs, cradled and hovered in straws and hay,

Although the eggs came from her round, the mother hen was never seen or found. 

Because her warmth was nowhere near, the father rooster began to fear.

Seeing the abandoned nest as it lay, he quickly dashed to the hay. 

Because the rooster had to also find the food, his warmth had to end too soon.

One day, outside the barn as he searched for more grain, he saw his hen on another hay.

Appalled by her resting at another site, the father called her home for another night. 

Back at the nest where her two eggs lay, the mother refused to rest onto their hay. 

Remembering the softness or the other bird’s nest, the hen gave her rooster a true test.

As the rooster saw her leaving again, he returned to the nest once more. 

But it was too late once he got there. 

The eggshells had cracked revealing two small chicks,

 Both looking alike their mother hen, who was nowhere near her den.

As the rooster gathered food for all three, the hen sought his company.

As they returned to the original nest that night, the mother was startled with fright. 

Reminded of the other nest’s absentee, the mother bird made another flee. 

As she left she could not hear her children’s cry, the rooster let her say goodbye. 

As the two chicks huddled with their father in the hay, they saw their mother runaway.