Sage Ecology

 

Delicate gilia

And brusque paint brush

Scattered scarlet and orange

With the pink and blue pastels

Of chiming bells, crane’s bills,

Lupine, and penstemon

In bloom among the pungent,

Black-branched, jade green sage

Lure in, darting, the quick-tongued,

Needlepoint, petal-tickling,

Probing, stirring whirl and blur

Of broad-tailed hummingbirds,

With wingtips whistling,

Weaving briskly rhythmic

And trilling metallic green

Through the rich sweet nectars

And colors of a mystic land.