Standing at the kitchen sink
Rinsing out my coffee cup
Something caught my eye this morning
Moving around on the spruce
If you can picture the window
Directly behind the double basin
And the large tree with limbs reaching out
Very close to our hilltop house
Imagine what I saw to my surprise
A pair of ruby crowned kinglets
Scampering about from branch to branch
Searching for insects to eat
I called out to my partner
Who hurried to come see
Both birds right there in view so close to us
Briefly visible at eye level
So nice to share the moment
A minor thrill in our quiet life
The marvel of this tiny long distance traveler
Passing through heading south
Perhaps you do not know of it
This very small avian migrant
With apparently enormously exaggerated eyes
Bracketed in bold white accents
Olive except for wing bar stripes
With a little tuft of red above
If you get a good look at the top of its head
Glimpsed through binoculars
So diminutive so precious
A bundle of energy in perpetual motion
So transient seen by chance for just a few seconds
One of our favorite species
