The ruby-throated hummingbird’s not fooled
By deer netting; he pokes his long bill through
And arches wings backwards, by nature schooled
To sip his nectar from a new purview.
He wants his meal bad enough to change
Without complaint where barriers forbid.
He doesn’t ask the world to rearrange
Arrangements of its formidable grid.
He perseveres to suck pineapple sage’s
Tubular red flowers where they are;
Adapting as animals have for ages,
He risks a tangled wing to fill his jar.
What fools we are to say the system fails
When one bird’s creativity prevails.
C.E. Chaffin, M.D., FAAFP, edited The Melic Reviewfor eight years prior to its hiatus. Widely published, he has been the featured poet in over twenty magazines. His new volume, Unexpected Light: Selected Poems and Love Poems 1998-2008 is due out in February 2009 from Diminuendo Press. Catch up with hime at www.cechaffin.com and www.cechaffin.blogspot.com.