The first humming bird
I saw a humming bird on Saturday
snorkelling nectar out of fuchsia cones
across the sun-struck green grass lawn
of a western Canada summer's day
while my father, stroke-stricken, lay
a day-long supersonic flight away
and I sat, on the edge of life,
beside a phone that did not ring.
I saw a humming bird on Saturday
pulsing copper wings in shadowed flight
before it circled to the roof
in a torrid ecstasy defying day
while my father,shade-pallid, grey
and fighting sub-antarctic death away
sat upright, on the edge of life,
alert to phones that never rang.
pulsing copper wings in shadowed flight
before it circled to the roof
in a torrid ecstasy defying day
while my father,shade-pallid, grey
and fighting sub-antarctic death away
sat upright, on the edge of life,
alert to phones that never rang.
I saw a humming bird on Saturday.