I can imagine, in some otherworld Primeval-dumb, far back
In the most awful stillness, that only gasped and hummed, Humming-birds raced down the avenues.
Before anything had a soul,
While life was a heave of Matter, half inanimate, This little bit chipped off in brilliance And went whizzing through the slow, vast, succulent stems.
I believe there were no flowers then, In the world where the humming-bird flashed ahead of creation. I believe he pierced the slow vegetable veins with his long beak.
Probably he was big As mosses, and little lizards, they say, were once big. Probably he was a jabbing, terrifying monster.
We look at him through the wrong end of the long telescope of Time,
Luckily for us. Española. [15] [10] [5]
[2] Primeval: the beginning of life on earth [2] dumb: silent
GLOSSARY GLOSSARY
[4] avenues: broad roads, typically lined with trees on each side
[6] inanimate: non-living [8] succulent: juicy and tender
