Just off the lanai

a hummingbird dazzles

over the stamen

of a gardenia bloom

 

An alert myna from nowhere

plucks it midair

with a moist “schlupp!”

into the untouched breeze,

sweeps smartly down

the slope to an opening

in rolling green groundcover

dropping the catch

to a bare spot

between three of its kind

who hop closer, twitch

their heads and beaks,

peck at it together

 

Watching this

from my lawn chair

I had a question and can’t seem

to bring it back

 

The suddenness, the sound of it

maybe