Encounter With a Hummingbird
I attend a writing class that meets every other week. At the last meeting, our facilitator, a poet, provided the class with a template to help them write poetry. Then we each wrote a poem using his method.
While I did not take this photo, the hummer looks very much like the one who looked at me.
My poem turned out to be about an encounter I had with a hummingbird. Here it is:
Encounter with a Hummingbird
Walking down my garden path,
Brushing aside tall pink anemones that tickle my cheek,
So I can watch an ecstatic bee
Rubbing its belly across an anemone’s pollen,
I hear an extended hum.
The noise reminds me of a contented cat purring, only it’s louder,
More immediate.
Startled, I look up
And encounter eyes not my own.
A hummingbird hovers near near my face,
No more than two inches away,
For two, maybe three, seconds,
Its wings a blur on both sides.
Its tiny orbs take me in.
Its whirring wings blow gentle air on my face
Like a fan.
I stand in awe of this tiny creature
Whose wings beat 50 times a second.
Walking on, I wonder.
What happened inside the tiny bird’s brain,
When it encountered me and paused
Before it zoomed away?
Did its encounter with me
Mean as much to him — though perhaps in a different way —
As my encounter with him
Meant to me?
A Few Interesting Facts about Hummingbirds
- They typically measure between seven and a half and thirteen centimeters in length
- They have a lifespan of three to five years
- They are fast flyers, going 15 meters per second
- They have the highest metabolism of any homeothermic animal (one that maintains a steady body temperature despite external conditions)
- Hummers have adapted to the visual requirements of rapid flight by developing an exceptionally dense array of retinal neurons which help them process visual information while in rapid flight
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