2:22

There's that number again

Red digits glowing on my digital alarm clock

2:22 AM

Waking me up

So many nights

With quiet insistence

Dim light pulsing in the dark

Beckoning me to some conclusion

That I could not understand

That number began to follow me

Went to the store

Bought a stick of gum

And a soft drink

My total was $2.22

What did it mean?

I kept seeing it everywhere

And each time

Something stirred inside my soul

Awakening

Coming alive

Like the whirring wings of a hummingbird

That's the only way I can describe it

And then you came along

And I actually saw a hummingbird

I started seeing them everywhere

But the first one

Was the day of our first date

It hovered outside the window

Of my sun-filled living room

Its tiny beak struck the window

Just two times

Tapping insistently

As if asking to be let in

Before flitting out of sight

I stood there in awe

Long after it had departed

What did it mean?

I saw another hummingbird

On the day I realised

That I was in love with you

Perhaps it was the same one

It happened at the close of our third date

You kissed me there on my front porch

Then walked away from me

And it felt as if my very soul

Was being ripped out of me

I didn't want you to go away

My heart said

"You love him."

And a whirring sound beside me

Revealed a male ruby-throated hummingbird

Hovering serenely at my side

Mere inches from my face

It tilted its tiny head as it looked at me

There was a certain knowing

In those dark eyes

What did it mean?

I got to know you

And things got creepy

I soon learned that the very same number

Kept appearing for you

And that you also

Kept seeing hummingbirds everywhere

And with this knowledge

That same something

Stirred in my spirit

Only this time stronger, more defined

An echo of something

A memory of something

Something ancient

Something sacred

Like a promise

Or a vow

But I still can't explain it

And even now

After I've been with you

Nearly six and a half years

That echo

That memory

Of something so ancient

And perfectly beautiful

Still stirs within my spirit

Every time I look in your eyes