Chapter Two: The Human King of the Yard

There is also a human
who thinks he owns
this small walled-in kingdom in the sun.


The human, like the hummer,
hates encroachers.
Lately, there have been house finches
insisting on drinking out of the hummingbird feeder.
While the hummer guards from his tree,
the human guards from the house.
When house finches approach,
the human takes a pellet gun
and goes outside and fires warning shots
to scare the offending finches away.
No attempt is made to shoot the finches.
Just trying to get the message across,
you know.
So now the finches fly
when his hand touches the door handle.
But they return when he comes back inside.

This week the human's wife
took the birdfeeder inside
to wash it out.
A stream of water shot out of the top
as she rinsed out the sugar water.

It seems the human shot a hole
in the top of the birdfeeder.

Kindred spirits, he and his hummer.