Smithereens Press Chapbooks SP8- Dordéan, do Chroí - A Hummingbird, your Heart | Page 11

A Hummingbird, your Heart

We peer into a plastic box,
where you sleep in a tangled nest of wires.
A curved cage of bone shelters
the hummingbird heart that hovers within,
his jade green eyes darting under your skin.
All though the darkening day, wings flicker
a pulse that keeps the huddled machines alive,
echoing whistles back and forth
in a chirping bird-tongue that only nurses understand.
Outside, winter trees hold bare branches high,
beckoning to the fragile bird that holds you with us.
Will your hummingbird – so vivid, so slight –
seek the freedom of skies, and take flight?

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