With the Sound of a Hummingbird’s Wings

~ Jenna P. Lyons

Do you think it would be so outrageous to ask the way of the world
to suddenly and sweetly let its heart stop for a brief interlude?

To quit turning and seeking and giving,
and just for a moment—for a segment of a second—be still and see itself
And to hear the rhythm with which it breathes and lets breath come
To advance into the future on the same axis
that allows a metallic green feather
to fall from the sky into the arms of a fallow, waiting ground.

To unrequitedly look itself in the mirror
To see its reflection and to feel a desire—
To hope and to pray and to love and inspire
To admire
the introspection of even a brittle hummingbird
Whose heartbeat and flitting speed
aspires to match that of even your own thoughts
Yet, whose silence in ascension ceases the composure
and grace of the most desperate
blooming flowers.

And do you think it would be so outrageous to not kneel down,
but rather to fall down
on your knees
and suddenly—uninhibited and crying—say all the things you deem to
be secrets?

To tell all of the people and all of the things
that you dream of them in color…
That you sleep with the wings of the wind on your mind—
that you walk with the sole intention of letting your soul unwind
And then you whisper.

With the sound of a hummingbird’s wings.