by Kevin T McEneaney
With widest spectrum of color
among all birds, they are the smallest birds,
excelling in hues of blue, green, purple.
Smaller hummingbirds beat gossamer wings
at about eighty flutters per second;
their rapid beating of wings is music
to those who view their lithe acrobatic,
marvelous, magical movement in air.
They require plenty of sugar water
because of their high metabolic rate,
the highest among all homothermic
animals dithering around the globe.
If a lady is pleasant, sweet to me,
I call her a fluttering hummingbird!