Humming-Bird
I can imagine, in some otherworld
Primeval-dumb, far back
In that most awful stillness, that only gasped and hummed,
Humming-birds raced down the avenues.
Before anything had a soul,
While life was a heave of Matter, half inanimate,
This little bit chipped off in brilliance
And went whizzing through the slow, vast, succulent stems.
I believe there were no flowers then,
In the world where the humming-bird flashed ahead of creation.
I believe he pierced the slow vegetable veins with his long beak.
Probably he was big
As mosses, and little lizards, they say, were once big.
Probably he was a jabbing, terrifying monster.
We look at him through the wrong end of the long telescope of Time,
Luckily for us. D.H. Lawrence
The first spotting of the humming-bird in Spring or Summer is always a moment of great delight. Though small, their colors are large, though fragile, with wings so small, they move at incredible speed. Like the irregular line lenghts of Lawrence’s poem so the humming-bird moves irregularly around the potted plants and garden flowers, darting here and there, pausing only for seconds and then off. Lawrence, imagines a very different, indeed “other ” world, way back then! This tiny bird we have come to love and adore Lawrence ponders that once-upon a time before flowers perhaps this bird was more “a jabbing terrifying monster”. Lawrence plays with imagination and his ongoing themes of nature and humanity. Perhaps we have got it wrong, what if way back..? I wonder. Pause and enjoy this moment of imagination and show more respect for the color and brilliance of nature. Behold the humming-bird!
Prayer:
Lord God,
we rejoice in the
mystery and majesty of
the atom and cell.
We rejoice in the
complexity and intricacy
of ant-hill and mountain,
coral reef and prairie grass.
We rejoice in the knowledge
of scientists and shepherds,
herders and planters.
Lord God,
help us to pause and
ponder. May we continue
to evolve and expand in ways
that embrace nature as a partner
and trusty friend. Amen.
Prayers, Poems, and Christian Ponderings 
Do you remember Rachel Carson’s best seller in the early 1960s, Silent Spring? Though just a kid at the time, I recall my parents discussions of the book, of their fears for the environment, and of the spraying of DDT in communities fearful of polio years before. But what worried me most was the notion of a silent spring, one without birds singing or without the scent of flowers, the things I began to long for during deep winter.
I recall the first time I saw a hummingbird up close, and heard the murmuring sound of its wings as it hovered over the blooming mimosa tree in my grandparents’ yard. I know now that it would never occur to them to put out a feeder for all they needed was right there. And sometimes this is the way I think about Springtime and realize that all we need is right there if we only take the time to recognize it. You are so wise to remind us to join up with nature as a partner and friend. Thank you for that.
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