Hummingbird

Each morning by my breakfast pane The little emerald acrobats came Ruby throats flashing in the summer light Hovering jewels in graceful flight

They danced among the scarlet blooms Like living sparks in garden rooms And every day I'd raise my tea To greet the tiny company

A silver blur, a whirring wing Such little things can make hearts sing

The hummingbirds have flown away Gone beyond the autumn day Past the fields and fading flowers Past the drifting harvest hours

Where do tiny jewels go When the north winds start to blow? I watched the empty feeder sway The hummingbirds had flown away

The cardinals arrived in red The robins hopped where berries spread Bluebirds visited now and then And orioles passed my windowpane

But every morning I would stare At the empty place they used to air Searching skies of gray and blue For one bright flash I always knew

The seasons turned, the branches bare Still I looked for them somewhere

The hummingbirds have flown away Gone beyond the autumn day Past the fields and fading flowers Past the drifting harvest hours

Where do tiny jewels go When the north winds start to blow? I watched the empty feeder sway The hummingbirds had flown away

Then winter laid her blanket down Across the sleeping garden ground Fresh white snow from fence to tree Held every bird's biography

Tiny footprints crossed the white Cardinals and sparrows overnight Yet not a single humming wing To tell me where they'd gone wandering

At last I ceased my wondering Spring returned on gentle wings And one bright morning at my meal A flash of emerald caught my eye

I nearly tumbled from my chair Certain magic hovered there A tiny visitor in the sun Telling me the wait was done

The hummingbirds have come again Carried home by springtime winds Back to blooms and warming hours Back among the waking flowers

Little jewels of air and light Returning from their hidden flight And all at once the world seemed right As hummingbirds filled my sight

So now each morning by my pane I greet my tiny friends again Knowing when the cold winds play The hummingbirds will fly away

And knowing too beyond the snow The little jeweled wanderers go Only for a season's stay Before they find their homeward way