Robert Novick - Hummingbird

Over the calla lilies
Midday cloud shadows raced.

The hummingbird darted and stalled.
Suspended
Among the inverted violet bells.

Upon his throat, an iridescent ruby gorget
Nestled within the thick green
Of his feathers.
Through the rustling foliage
He dove and emerged
On the other side, slid up
Through the halcyon air.

His wings in swiftness whirred, as he shot
Down
To dip into the flower folds.
Up again he hastened—away—
Smeared by motion into
Streaming emerald and blurring blush

Forward toward the torpor
That awaited him beyond.

Robert Novick

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hummingbird-21/