Years Have Sped By

Poems

The Challenge

Birds build and to their nests attend,

Desire with man to contend.

They hop, and with spread wings fly, --

Seemingly conscious of the roles they play!

 

Grass is plucked from young garden bed,

Carrying them, as people do,

Skillfully interweaving blade with blade,

So the wind the nest won't blow away . . .

 

No sooner is the nest completed,

Then 'tis by birdlings occupied . . .

There's soon a chorus singing hearty,

To their achievement of "chanukas habaiyes"¹

 

Is the song a dream or reality,

In chorus, or individually?

In the building of one's nest

Can humankind meet that test?

 

How good 'twould be if man,

Whene'er he can-could sing --

As a bird does, when building its nest,

While competing in such a contest . . .

1. "Chanukas habaives" -- house-warming party