My Little Golden Book of Phobias

For being so wee, hummingbirds are pretty fierce. They don't share at the feeder and they 'chirp' very loudly at one another to move aside.

In spite of that, their flashing magenta and green startle my heart.



Time to visit my pea patch. At least there is no roaming chicken to dig and eat my starts.

Love after love  The time will come When, with elation, You will greet yourself arriving At your own door, in your own mirror, And each will smile at the other's welcome,   And say, sit here, Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart To itself, to the stranger who has loved you   All your life, whom you ignored For another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,   The photographs, the desperate notes, Peel your image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life.                                       Derek Walcott