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.