The Hummingbird (Monday Poem)

by Mary Oliver


It's morning, and again I am that lucky person who is in it.
and again it is spring,
and there are apple trees,
and the hummingbird in its branches.
On the green wheel of his wings
he hurries from blossom to blossom,
which is his work, that he might live.

He is a gatherer of the fine honey of promise,
and truly I go in envy
of the ruby fire at his throat,
and his accurate, quick tongue,
and his single-mindedness.

Meanwhile the knives of ambition are stirring
down there in the darkness behind my eyes.
and I should go inside now to my desk and my pages.
But still I stand under the trees, happy and desolate,
wanting for myself such a satisfying coat
and brilliant work.


from What Do We Know? Poems and Prose Poems
By Mary Oliver
De Capo Press, 2002