(This battle continued for ten days before I threw in the towel.I was afraid the banging screen door would disturb her.)

Tag-a-Long

I've saved their nest from year to year
For my sweet swallow friends.
Today I learned to my dismay
A good deed never ends.

I watched with glee as they moved in
To their remembered nest;
Quite unaware they'd brought with them
A tag-a-long real pest.

My old friends went unswervingly
To their allotted place;
The light above the garage door
Where I reserved a space.

The intruder's been trying to
Take over the front door.
I've chased her away and scolded.
She just comes back for more.

She daubed mud above the door light
Then on the dinner bell.
I hung a plastic owl and she
Found that okay as well.

I put up foil; she doesn't care
She keeps bringing her debris.
She simply keeps on coming, but
I am strong-willed as she.

She can build upon the roof top
Or the wooden garden shed.
But she persists, demands to go
Where I forbid, instead.

I thought I had defeated her;
I've chased her many times.
But now I find she's muddying
The musical wind chimes.

I've taken out my garden hose,
Sprayed down my entry door.
I'll keep on spraying it and her,
'Til she comes back no more.

Compared to me in height and weight,
She is a tiny mite.
If she does not win the battle
She has fought a valiant fight.

She's knocked down all the shiny foil
Continuing with her nest
In determined strong defiance,
Telling me that Mom knows best.

She has her nest completed
I'm not fighting anymore.
She may have lost some battles
But she has won the war.

Her nest is on the windchimes
And she's settled there within.
The wind will play them lullabies
As the nestling's lives begin.

ByJoyce 5/26/04