“Flight of the Hummingbird” by Nathaniel Posey, 16, Beavercreek

Upon one summer’s afternoon,

Basked in rays of sunlight golden,

I dozed in sweet serenity

To all worries unbeholden.

For shame that then an itchy nose

Should my paradise have slighted,

But to my shock did I espy

A hummingbird alighted,

Had alighted and now roosting

Sat he most calmly in repose,

Say I roosting calmly preening

Upon the tip of my poor nose!

Transfixéd by those eb’ny eyes,

My frame ventured not reaction,

My mind as yet could not explain

Such a strange newfound attraction,

For surely an attraction was

‘Pon his part at least yet growing,

For that deep intelligent gaze

Held some something strangely knowing.

For truth, it was within those eyes,

When beak and wings my gaze had passed,

I knew who ‘twas that I beheld,

In irreverent awe, I gasped.

Most responsive, doubtless startled

By my quite unrestrained delight,

That petite but wondrous creature

In greatly ruffled haste took flight.

With darting grace, he sped away

Upon the summer’s breeze he plied,

Wings in rapid, whirring motion

By human eyes be not descried.

His speed it weld ferocity

In acrobatics through the trees,

All the whilst remaining silent

Beneath the buzzings of the bees.

Eventually, as masked from sound,

So too could he not be sighted,

But O, knew I that even then

He had in my heart alighted.