Story Behind The Song

After hearing of my friend's daughter Ava's death it took a few years before I could really connect with her, I had no idea what to say. When we finally gathered it was in San Diego, I had been at the zoo and seen a Hummingbird hover right in my face, not in the hummingbird exhibit but just out in the open. When I told my friend of the story she said she often thought of Ava as a hummingbird, so small but so strong with her battle against neuroblastoma, but now after her death she was visited by a huge hawk that perhaps represented the huge wings Ava now has. Amazingly on the flight home I read an article on Columbine that mentioned one of the mothers of a child who died also thought her son visited her as a hawk... A few months later the song came to me as I lay between waking and dreaming, I didn't even have time to put on my glasses but started writing it down in the dark.

Song Description

When a family loses a child the pain is devastating, it's hard to understand how a life could be cut so short. I was struck by the similarity between a young heart speeding like the wings of a hummingbird and then evolving to another realm more like the hawk soaring above us and watching out for us, both magical. We have no idea idea why some of us live a long time and others who have so much to give are cut so short, but it is my belief that those that leave us early are watching out for us and although we cannot understand why they are asked to leave us they can still inspire us with the memory of their love and watch over us.

Lyrics

Hawks and Hummingbirds
© Rebecca Chapa

Earthbound we knew you couldn't stay long
Pollinating flowers with your sweet song
Your beating wings moving doubletime
Seeming delicate yet so strong

But all our heartbeats are numbered
And yours just sped too fast
As sad as we were when you left us
Now we know at last

You soar, you dive
You lift our spirits high
Your wings on air
Look out for us down here

Soaring, Flying, Living, Dying
Effortless floating now you are showing
You're our wings

Day by day we go through the motions
Trying to suppress our emotions
Til we hear your echo on the wind
And we know you've come back again

Cause all our heartbeats are numbered
And you left way too soon
So for now please watch over us
And we'll think of you...

You soar, you dive
You lift our spirits high
Your wings on air
Look out for us down here

Soaring, Flying, Living, Dying
Effortless floating now you are showing
You're our wings

Fly