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beekeeper's song

telling the bees

He is not worthy of the honeycomb
That shuns the hive because the bees have stings.
 —William Shakespeare

who will go and tell my honey bees when i am gone
for i have no earthly friends, except my bees alone
i have never known by lesson that they carry stings
for they only cool my troubles with their healing wings
legends say hives know of marriages and deaths and births
tales of ancient egypt, river nile, and celtic mirth
midnight hums on christmas day i cannot speak about
for such myths survive not in the fire of Christian doubt
lores from mystic climes my colonies cannot recount
tho ‘tis heaven’s grace alone that fills their surple fount
law and order is the custom of their rulership
kingdom choked with mating drones, workers with dancing hips
fertile ‘lizabethan queen refusing no advance
lest a lapse where duty calls should alter circumstance
pollinate while sun is hot, make hay while daylight shines
who can own the future, only now is truly mine
symbiotic symmetry my bees and me unite
red for them means no alarm, their stings give me no fright
but i have no earthly friends, except for these alone
who will go and tell my honey bees when i am gone

© Copyright 2019 December 13
by Clyve A. Bowen♫
Written by cabcool
Published | Edited 15th Dec 2019
Author's Note
For centuries, beekeepers across Europe have kept the ancient tradition of honeybees being messengers through "telling the bees." The death of the beekeeper required the new beekeepers to introduce themselves formally as their new owner and ask for their acceptance as their new master/mistress. Not doing this would encourage the bees to desert the hive or the colony to stop producing honey or even die. It is a tradition that that new beekeepers continue today.
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