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HUMMINGBIRDS IN THE STORM
(Hurricane Dennis)
All day while rains roared and winds tousled
the treetops, tossing down leafsprays and dead limbs,
two ruby-throated tough guys, fingersized, flitted amidst
the tempest, competing for the swaying feeder, buzzing
one another: dodging, maneuvering, playing chicken at forty mph
amid slapping wet branches and treacherous wind currents--
dipping, weaving, and ripping away through pelting rain;
wind-dancing on tossing air to Nature's extreme music,
like fairy children imbibing the elixir of the elements.
This morning, with clouds falling apart, sunshine breaking through,
breezes turning civil, the earth drying, I imagine our tiny daredevils
somewhere in a sheltered copse, heads and wings drooping, resting
profoundly as hungover partygoers, tuckered to a frazzle
from yesterday's happy madness.
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