by Elisa Rothstein
There used to be a place for them to land
Tiny shining warriors of color
Flashing feathers humming hunger
Chirruping strange cries
Reminding me that joy was a living thing
And then, the fucking squirrels came
Sugar-hungry wolves in search of sustenance
Ready to plunder
Sack
Suck
Chew away the perch
Where happiness came to
Rest
Sip
Contemplate
Remember
Furry little bastards
Waging war on winged joy
On a life that was…
The siege of the squirrels began
Cruel as karma
Desperate as death
The morning I found the tiny body
Soft
Still warm
Feathers still brilliant
Throat still catching sunlight like a ruby
I wept
Heartbroken
Convinced joy would never return
I took the hummingbird in my hands
As I never could when it lived
And placed it in the earth
Marked its place so I would never forget
That joy had lived here once
Three days later
Another bird came to the feeder
Lingered
Came back again
And again
Calling loudly
Insistently
Until I could no longer look away
Could no longer ignore
The iridescent flash of color
As it perched on a nearby cactus
And waited
Waited
For me to see
And hear
And know
That sweetness
Had never left
ER 5/24/22
Photo by: Zdenek Macháček
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