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From: eokane@charm.UUCP (Evan Kane)
Newsgroups: net.poems,net.kids
Subject: empty nest syndrome
Message-ID: <280@charm.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 20-Mar-84 20:39:15 EST
Article-I.D.: charm.280
Posted: Tue Mar 20 20:39:15 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 21-Mar-84 08:17:51 EST
Organization: Physics Research - AT&T Bell Labs MH
Lines: 30


             First Sunday in Christ Church Nursery


               Grandchildren nowhere to be seen,
               Children rejecting
               Love's once warm garment grown too tight.
               Then this announcement:
               
              "Staff overwhelmed by babies tears,
               Caregivers needed"
               Shyly,unsurely, I respond
               Fish out of water.
               
               Parents persuading by the door,
               Needing their freedom,
               Leaving their children here with me
               Time never ending.
               
               Gently I hold till pain abates
               Tense body softens
               Yielding in trust to my embrace
               Head on my shoulder.
               
               And children never seen before,
               No kinship holding,
               Belong to me for one brief hour
               Oh, unexpected magic revelation!
               
                       Evan Kane 3/20/84