Chaparral Ballet

A hummingbird sat quietly on the dead limb of a torrey pine
half burnt by the fire that ran so hot it only took part of the tree

and raced on.  A Kingbird unseats the little bird, cocking
his head back and forth looking for larvae or beetles

who come in after a disaster like this and feast on the oozing sap.
The hummingbird swept down to the sage, still blooming by year’s

end and fed in its velvet ears.