Guilt Feelings Upon Retiring. Poem by Bryan Sefton

The sparrow sits on the wall and sings
I, in my garden chair and muse
Retirement allows time for such things
The sparrow would call it an abuse
He's got a family he has to raise
I've done my share of scratching
So he can leave me to my idle says
He can have his hatching

He's got his straining hungry young
Their wide beaks saying 'feed me! '
Mine have grown and flown along
And only call when need be
It would have been nice when times were hard
To tell them 'beg your pardon'
And got the spade and gone outside
To feed them worms from the garden

I too pulled feathers from my breast
By way of foresight and some thrift
And girdled it round to make my nest
In the same way as the sparrows gift
He built his nest to raise his young
I raised my young as I built my nest
He would say that I had got it wrong
We both, in our confusion, do our best

I thought of him last winter when
The icey wind was blowing blasts
And it looked bleak upon the fen
And everything had a hoar frosts cast
I put some bird feed out for him
A mixture for his choosing
So he needn't look at me so grim
Condemning and accusing