Glenn Miley of Sherrill was the first place winner in the Adult Category of the Old Forge Library’s annual Poetry and Illustration Contest held on Tuesday, March 20th, with the following entry…
For Father at Seventy-two by Glenn Miley
I will not search for you, as I do not search for songbirds and I do not worry for Morning.
They come.
You will come
from mountains and valleys who know your footsteps, your thoughtful solitude.
You will come,
from your paths,
your resting places,
sacred waters.
At dawn I hear you crunching
through the hardwoods,
as you returned so many times in
my boyhood,
covered in burdocks and
scratches,
smelling like swamp,
wild-eyed, hungry,
a stray Labrador.
Now, in this light before sun,
I watch you bring a robin’s nest
so carefully cradled in your hands
I am sure it holds eggs
or chirping young.
But it is empty,
save for the downy tufts chicks
have left behind.