He built a chicken wire fence four feet tall 
to surround the run outside their coop
and still his oldest hen had figured out
how to escape from the rest of the flock.

This went on for weeks without explanation - 
or without any real cause for concern,
because she always came back before dark
to roost with her sisters through the night.

Out for a walk on his land one day
he almost stepped in a cache of ten eggs
nestled by the foot of a maple tree.

As he gathered them, he smiled to himself
        at the notion of that broody dame
	having trysts in the woods with a wild fowl.