O HUMMINGBIRD

O fearless hummingbird,
hovering over the canna
and the honeysuckle,
only a few hours
away from starvation
at any given moment in time.
Today is not your day to die.

I have seen your spirit before.
Your fight for survival.
The ability to remain irridescent
as the colors of the rainbow
in the heart of a storm.
Your voice of uniqueness
in a world of ordinariness
that touched time
like no other.

I have seen your spirit before,
sweet hummingbird...
her name was Florine.

If only time could fly backwards,
like you,
she would repeat on this star.
Were infinity to begin again,
with no borders
to restrain her resolve,
threads of light
from her window of life
would shine like fire in the night.

Like lightning,
her smile would be etched
upon the earth.

Her laugh, not teardrops,
would be my river.
Her voice
the sound of spring rain.

Her passion the scent
of wildflowers on the mountain;
Her rhythms, a feast to feed
my homeless heart.

Absence of her love
is the cruel cost
of promises lost
in the infinite space
between memory and time.

O hummingbird.
If only time could fly backwards,
like you.

© JOHN PISCATELLA