Visitors at Daybreak

 

Brown as the old barn's boards
and the dry leaves that litter the dirt floor,
Carolina wrens flit from beam to beam
in the leafless dawn.

Drawn by the lights of morning chores, 
they forage for morsels
in the spiderwebs
draping walls and ceiling.

Watching each other,
we work side by side.
Who the rightful owner,
and who the interloper?

Unexpected companions,
harbingers of cheer
on this drab and frozen morning.