The Hummingbirds Will Return: Poems and Prose Poems

By Lois Lewis

“Your beautiful words and thoughts are music for the eyes! Thank you so very much.”
— Cindy Chapman Guilford

A blend of reportage and praise, the fifty-four poems in this second collection of verse by poet Lois Lewis is a celebration of the spirit, of nature, and of life. Topics range from the providence of God, and ghosts, to the unique beauty of animals, birds, marine life, and social issues such as illegal drugs, missing children, and the plight of the American Indians.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781973604693

Lois Lewis

American author Lois Lewis has had a lifelong love of nature. She has pursued activities such as hiking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, and cross-country skiing. In her poetry collections she writes about animals, birds, fish, insects, marine life, trees and flowers, as well as spiritual and social issues. She has lived in eleven states and Mexico. She currently resides in the foothills of the Ozarks.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 Lois Lewis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-0468-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-0470-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-0469-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017915728

WestBow Press rev. date:11/14/2017

In Loving Memory

of Onnie Lois Wigginton

CONTENTS

Introduction

Squirrels

Something Amazing

Red Fox

Flip to the Funny Pages

Paddle and Pray

Indigo Bunting

Before the Cradle to Beyond the Grave

Starfish

Artesian Well

Cows and People

Roaring Lion

Duckbill Platypus

Spinner of Plates

Box Turtle

Refiner of Silver

Ghosts

The Greatest of All Lighthouse Keepers

Genocide

Music

The Hummingbirds Will Return

Fruit Dove

Opossums

Old Barns and Old Folks

Princess

Peace Treaty

Beavers

We’re All in This Together

Pride

Reincarnation

Polar Bears

Monarch Butterflies

Vultures

Raccoons

Heartsick

Optical Illusions

Kangaroo Brief

Eagle and the Snake

Emperor Penguins

Zebra

Garments of Skin

A Line in the Sand

Giraffe

Missing Hearts

Marine Iguanas

The Promised Land

Volcano

Patting Down the Dirt

Illegal Drugs

Porcupines

Panoramic Canvas

Stradivarius

Fear of the Lord

Owls

Valley of the Shadow of Death

Afterword

Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION

Ernest Hemingway is reported to have said, There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. And Robert Frost wrote, no tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.¹ I didn’t comprehend the truth of those statements until I wrote my first collection of poetry, The Magnanimous Gift. The theme of that maiden collection was, searching for God. The main theme of this second collection is the providence, or protective care, of God. I admit, I shed a few tears writing both books.

I would feel remiss if I didn’t mention, where scriptures are included in my writing they appear out of context, and may be paraphrased or incomplete. I would also remind readers, though poems often mirror a writer’s unique experiences and thoughts, they are imaginary constructs.

But ask the animals, and they will teach you,

or the birds