photo by: me 5/12/2008
i hung a hummingbird feeder
right outside my window
from here i can watch
as the one hummingbird
i have come to call “rupee”
guards it.
he hides in the branches
of the tulip tree
and when any other hummingbirds approach it
he swoops in and drives them away..
in its sweet syrupy confection,,
he is rich
but at the same time he is starving..
his entire existence has become a war
waged, as much against himself
as those that seek to share it with him-
as in his drive to control
that which has been so freely given to him
he has been made to sacrifice
his ability to partake in the glory of its sweetness..
in the end
he may very well percieve
himself the victor..
but i will know,
that he died
without ever having tasted
the true sweetness
of this simple gift of love…
