Walked out the back gate
this morn and noticed
the Tom Thumb bottle brush
suddenly in full bloom.

A hummingbird whirred
to one blossom, gathering
nectar or insects. It had
noted the slow scarlet opening

while I paid no heed, simply
accepting the bush as part of
my home landscape. Oh, for
a hummingbird's view

for one day of my life—
flitting from blossom to blossom,
sipping sweetness from red, pink
and scarlet petal-urns—
seeing the world in Floralscope.


© by Norma Wightman.
Used with the author's permission.