A hummingbird

September 8, 1994

a hummingbird is a myth

on a blur of wings,

not really there,

though partly,

absent in its presence.

Sometimes it sits,

wearing a needle

on its face,

then rises and rows rapidly away,

turning the air to emptiness

as no other bird can.

Having scarcely been there,

it is so wholly gone,

when gone,

it never was there.