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James Whitcomb Riley - An Empty Nest
Work rating: Low

I find an old deserted nest,
    Half-hidden in the underbrush:
A withered leaf, in phantom jest,
    Has nestled in it like a thrush
With weary, palpitating breast.

I muse as one in sad surprise
    Who seeks his childhood`s home once more,
And finds it in a strange disguise
    Of vacant rooms and naked floor,
With sudden tear-drops in his eyes.

An empty nest!  It used to bear
    A happy burden, when the breeze
Of summer rocked it, and a pair
    Of merry tattlers told the trees
What treasures they had hidden there.

But Fancy, flitting through the gleams
    Of youth`s sunshiny atmosphere,
Has fallen in the past, and seems,
    Like this poor leaflet nestled here,--
A phantom guest of empty dreams.
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