Literary Hook: A new sonnet celebrating hummingbirds

By Christine Swanberg
Author and Poet

The fall season has arrived, and with it, the migration of birds. Each year, hummingbirds return to our garden. I delight in them and call them by name.

In September, they feed ferociously each day, ravenous for fuel for their trek South. Some may go as far as Central America. Others stop in Texas. Here is a new sonnet celebrating hummingbirds.

Hummingbird Whisperer

Glory be to the fierce little warriors

who return to my garden every year.

Come, enjoy, drink the various nectars,

tiny bold ones. You without any fear,

teach me to cultivate fervor and focus.

Stay in our shared secret sanctuary

created for you with bergamot and phlox,

fuchsia and the feeder hung on the tree

you visit each morning. Hello! Goodbye!

Who could be freer? Fast as a torpedo

when I’m digging, spading, you catch my eye.