diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/push.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/push.go
index 2319213..74ec025 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/push.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/push.go
@@ -502,8 +502,14 @@ func composeEach(names []string,
 			continue
 		}
 		if len(declared.Resources) == 0 {
-			fmt.Printf("%s is assigned nothing — skipped\n", name)
-			continue
+			// Sent, not skipped (novox/hq issue 127). A node whose declaration composes to
+			// nothing may have HELD something before — the broker opening a placement gave it,
+			// say — and skipping the empty declaration leaves that last resource in force
+			// forever, re-applied by the node's own heartbeat, with no way for the mesh to say
+			// it is gone. An empty declaration is the correction: the host drops what the mesh
+			// owned and keeps what it found (the adoption envelope still rides along). A node
+			// that never held anything applies it as the no-op it is.
+			fmt.Printf("%s owns nothing now — sent so it drops what it last held\n", name)
 		}
 		sending = append(sending, readyNode{name, declared})
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/push_test.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/push_test.go
index 3e6dc9d..aeaabfa 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/push_test.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/push_test.go
@@ -39,12 +39,14 @@ func TestOneUnresolvableNodeStillLetsTheRestBeSent(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// And a machine assigned nothing is neither sent nor a refusal — it is nothing to say.
-func TestAMachineAssignedNothingIsNotARefusal(t *testing.T) {
+// A machine whose declaration composes to nothing is SENT the empty declaration, not skipped
+// (novox/hq issue 127): it may have held something before, and only sending the empty
+// declaration tells it to drop what the mesh owned. It is never a refusal.
+func TestAnEmptyDeclarationIsSentSoTheNodeDropsWhatItHeld(t *testing.T) {
 	sending, refusals := composeEach([]string{"spare"},
 		func(string) (sendable, error) { return sendable{}, nil })
-	if len(sending) != 0 || len(refusals) != 0 {
-		t.Errorf("a machine assigned nothing was treated as something: %v / %v", sending, refusals)
+	if len(sending) != 1 || len(refusals) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("an empty declaration must be sent, not skipped or refused: %v / %v", sending, refusals)
 	}
 }