My cat's interest was (exceptionally) piqued by something outside the window today. I walked out on the balcony to check it out. Could it be the amazing marigolds that survived my black thumb, remained dormant for months, and have timidly decided to join the world again?
Probably not.
I brought my camera, my telephoto lens, and some patience to our balcony today. I was rewarded by a hummingbird, also called the lifeblood of my cat's entire existence. Here are some photos I snapped of her while she drank from the Dr. Seuss plants outside of our balcony, followed by a poem by D.H. Lawrence. I chose this particular poem because no matter how tiny these birds are, they will defend their territory TO THE DEATH, and because I think they are magnificent little creatures.
Humming Bird
by D.H. Lawrence
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.
