Robin

I had to let him go

Like the mother robin

Crowded with her noisy young

In the disheveled nest of twigs overhanging the patio door

Those scruffy chicks  there one day

Then gone the next

Never to return

 

I saw the young robins

Awkwardly flying about the yard

Their mother watching pensively from afar

But there was no going back

They had fledged

Never to return

 

A mother remains a mother

No matter what

But the young become adults

Eager to take flight on untested wings.

 

Like the mother robin

I have finally let go

Awkwardly giving up that need to nurture

Now I watch pensively from a safe distance

Then I find my way home

To save myself

Never to return